CELTIC are in the market for a new manager and without doubt this is becoming a crucial appointment.

The turnaround in one year has been astonishing with their total control of Scottish football coming to an end so quickly. It was something I couldn’t see coming despite
the obvious improvements Steven Gerrard was making with Rangers.

At the start of this season, the debate was on whether Rangers could put in a challenge for the league title but the outcome has been incredibly contrary to what was the general expectation.

Celtic did manage to win the Scottish Cup in December to fulfil their treble-winning campaign of 19/20 but other than that it’s been a really poor season.

I still feel that, given time, Neil Lennon could have turned things around again but now
his position has been settled we await with interest to see who will be his replacement.

There have been some major candidates already identified and I’m sure the board are
making enquiries behind the scenes to establish three crucial factors regarding the
potential candidates:

Are they interested in the job? What sort of wage would they accept? Do they require to
bring in their own staff as support?

If the favoured candidate is in a job, they will also be interested to know if there is
a get-out clause but I don’t envisage this being a problem with Celtic as they
will be very keen to get the identified candidate regardless of what the settlement cost might be.

There have been some big names mentioned already with Eddie Howe, Steve Clarke and David Moyes all being talked about.

Howe did a terrific job at Bournemouth, getting them promotion and keeping them in the
Premiership for five years.

The one query the Celtic board might have in considering him is the issue of whether he
can handle being in charge of a club that demands success and not one, like
Bournemouth, where his team are constantly underdogs.

David Moyes, on the other hand, has recovered well from his bleak term at Manchester
United. He’s doing a great job with West Ham and would certainly be a strong
candidate for the Celtic job.

One name that has only been occasionally mentioned is Roberto Martinez.

Obviously, with Belgium currently holding the No.1 position in the FIFA rankings,
it would appear to be difficult to lure him back into club management. However,
perhaps he might feel he has done his bit at international level and having taken
Belgium to such heights, this might be the ideal time to say his farewells, leaving when his status is at a peak when he would be a candidate for any available high-profile club job.

IT was sad to learn about the passing of Ian St John this week. He was a real Scottish football legend with his great football career extending into the media when he linked up with another legendary player, Jimmy Greaves, for a great TV football show in the late 1980s, early ’90s. I met him a few times when I was down south playing and spent
some time with him in France in 1998 when we were both doing TV work during the
World Cup.

He was a very humble person. He was also full of football stories as he had contact with so many famous people during his illustrious career.

I loved hearing the ones regarding Bill Shankly when he played under him for Liverpool.
He told me that when he was making his debut, Shankly said: “This is Liverpool, so with you being Scottish, you’re going to have to be brilliant today for the fans to consider you
OK.”

The Saint was certainly considered “OK” during his six years at Anfield.