LIKE the 10 green bottles, appropriately enough, the candidates for the Celtic job, at least those mustered by the speculators, keep falling off the wall.
The latest to be dismissed as a contender is Wimbledon's leader, Joe Kinnear, who has been the subject of much chit chat and various rumoured offers, some of millionaire proportions, from the Parkhead regime. Not true, it seems, and the authority this time is the man who should know: Fergus McCann.
''He is not in my thoughts,'' said the managing director after a press conference for the club's Boys Against Bigotry campaign yesterday. That would seem to put paid to any ambitions Kinnear's fans may have held in that direction, but, until the white smoke appears, nothing can be assumed.
McCann has steadfastly refused to get excited about the criticism that suggests Celtic are lagging too far behind Rangers already to have much chance of winning the league in the new season. ''I hope the fans realise that we want to do the right things and not be rushed into making a bad decision,'' he said.
''It is difficult to get the very best people because they are already in very good jobs. But, when we make the appointments, it will be with a view to long-term success for Celtic.
''The coach who comes to the club must have a good track record at winning silverware. However, my only concern is to ensure this club keeps getting better and better every year.
''I've had a lot of discussions with various colleagues around Europe and they have encouraged me that what we are doing is right, but it is difficult. We have two positions to fill and I would hope to have one of the men in very soon.
''It is not easy to find men with the particular executive talents required for general manager and the expertise of a head coach. But we have not taken a gamble.
''A decision was made to make radical changes to the footballing side and, as I've stressed, we've been encouraged.''
He is well aware that Celtic supporters will only be encouraged when they see a name of a coach that fills them with anticipation. It seems unlikely that the new man on the wall, Danny Wilson of Barnsley, who is the latest to be put up as a challenger, would meet that criteria, however talented he may be.
The one constant name throughout has been Bobby Robson, who will be leaving Barcelona after the Spanish Cup final next Wednesday, but there
From back page
have been no indications so far that he would want to come to Scotland. The manager of Perugia, Nevio Scala, had been assumed to be out of the running after he was reported to be heading for Tenerife, but that is not the case yet.
Scala, who led Parma to UEFA Cup and Cup-winners' Cup successes, was offered the Tenerife job, but the Spanish club reneged when he insisted that his two assistants would have to be brought with him. All three are on contracts that would cost a lot of money to buy out.
On a more familiar front, the Parkhead striker Jorge Cadete might be facing further censure from his bosses in Glasgow after Real Sociedad's open admission that he and his agent spoke to the Spanish club about a possible transfer, which is against FIFA rules. Real spokesman Annoni Elola confirmed that Cadete told them he never wanted to play for Celtic again.
He said: ''We are looking for a striker and Cadete is a player we have admired for a while. We contacted Celtic straight away and they told us they definitely didn't want him to leave and that is where the negotiations ended.
Meanwhile, Perugia have lost their attempt to have FIFA back their claim that Rangers signed teenager Rino Gattuso illegally. Rangers, who, incidentally, did not buy anybody yesterday, have been cleared by FIFA, who ruled in their favour after Perugia made their protest through the Italian FA.
However, Rangers were not totally inactive. Coventry were waiting to hear whether they had been pipped by Rangers for 24-year-old Finnish internationalist goalkeeper Annti Niemi.
His agent was reported to be in Glasgow last night talking to the Ibrox club. Coventry had bid #700,000 for the player.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article