If reports are to be believed, Robbie Keane is the frontrunner to be Celtic’s next manager.
Martin O’Neill is not expected to stay beyond this season, leaving a vacancy for a permanent manager which has existed since the departure of Wilfried Nancy.
Nancy was sacked after just 33 days in the job, with Head of Football Operations Paul Tisdale also being dismissed after playing a leading role in his appointment.
Celtic’s response to such a spectacularly failed experiment has been telling.
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Robbie Keane: the Dermot Desmond candidate for Celtic
Sacking Nancy to pave the way for O’Neill’s return was clearly the right decision.
But after such a fatally erroneous decision by Tisdale, the Keane interest is clear evidence that Dermot Desmond is back in the driving seat in club decision making.
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Desmond personally funded Robbie Keane’s move to Glasgow in 2010, in a rare action from the principal shareholder at Celtic Park.
Make no mistake: if Desmond wants Keane as manager, he will get him.
The Parkhead chief has always had an affinity for Irish players and managers, evident from O’Neill, Neil Lennon and Brendan Rodgers.
The same goes for players; Liam Scales’ move to the Celts literally came about through Desmond’s involvement at Shamrock Rovers.
In bringing in Tisdale (whose worthiness of such a significant role was questionable to say the least), the club showed a willingness to bring another voice into key decisions.
But after that didn’t work, it’s seemingly back to old ways. The report in The Guardian that claims that Keane is the frontrunner also says that the club plan to “heavily restructure” football operations ahead of next season.
You may remember that this was also the talk in 2021, only for the plan to hire Fergal Harkin as Director of Football to collapse just as spectacularly as the one to hire Eddie Howe as manager.
In the end, Desmond and Peter Lawwell handled the appointment of Ange Postecoglou, with no DoF forthcoming. That didn’t work out too badly, in fairness – but is Keane the right choice?
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Celtic’s two alternatives to Robbie Keane
The above report also mentions Jens Berthel Askou and Craig Bellamy as having admirers at the club, though there are stumbling blocks with both.
The report claims that senior figures at Parkhead have concerns over Askou’s ability to step up from Motherwell to a club as seismic as Celtic.
This would be less of a concern for Bellamy, who played for the Hoops and other huge clubs. However, if he can guide Wales to qualification in this month’s World Cup play-offs, his availability becomes a major issue.
Both managers have done a stellar job in their current roles, but Keane hasn’t done too badly either. His Ferencvaros side beat Braga 2-0 in the Europa League round of 16 on Thursday, and sit at the top of the league in Hungary.
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