Howe to get club back on its feet? Time to ask Eddie
FEBRUARY 26. It’s a date etched painfully in the memory of every Celtic fan who dared believe in eternal dominance of Scottish football.
Two years ago yesterday Brendan Rodgers sent shockwaves around Celtic Park that some would argue are still reverberating deep below London Road.
Faster than two shakes of the Foxes’ tail, Rodgers left the Hoops’ bid for a historic treble Treble to take the Leicester job.
Few have gone from hero to zero with a fan base so quickly. And while Neil Lennon rode in to save a third domestic clean sweep on the spin before delivering a fourth last year, the reality is Celtic have been in decline ever since.
This week is also the one-year anniversary of when Celtic were crowned champions of the Covid-curtailed season with a 13-point gap over Rangers.
If ever a set of stats summed up the huge power swing in one season, then this is it.
Celtic’s 10-in-a-row bid has crashed so far off track their points total this season – they’re 16 worse off – would have seen them trail Rangers at this stage a year ago, a time when it was the Ibrox side in apparent free fall.
Lennon has paid the price for a calamitous campaign. Peter Lawwell is heading for the exit and close behind will be some of the club’s most valuable players.
They’re at a crossroads. The next managerial appointment could be the most important in the club’s history.
Impressive names have been mentioned – Rafa Benitez, Frank Lampard, Steve Clarke, Eddie Howe. But if Clarke were to move before the
Euros, Scotland fans would find it unforgivable.
And Celtic can’t afford to wait until after this summer’s finals to make an appointment.
Benitez’s pedigree may be unquestionable but whether he fits the Celtic profile certainly is.
Lampard would be an expensive gamble, even if he is interested.
Which brings us to Howe. Young, hungry, available and, according to those who know him best, a top operator on the training ground.
Steering unfancied Bournemouth from the bottom division to the top over the course of two spells was impressive enough.
But doing so with a brand of attractive football, always on the front foot and looking
His buy young and develop strategy would suit the Hoops hierarchy
to score goals, would immediately appeal to the Celtic hardcore.
His experience of a buy young and develop model at the Vitality would certainly suit the Hoops hierarchy.
Whoever comes in needs to readdress a disconnect starting in the recruitment department, which – David Turnbull aside – has failed so spectacularly in the last 12 months.
Howe did that at the Cherries, leaving his stamp on the entire club.
That’s the type of energetic and progressive manager the Hoops should be going after.
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SLAVIA PRAGUE manager Jindrich Trpisovsky has landed the tie he craved with Rangers at the second time of asking.
Ahead of the draw for the last 32 in the Europa League, Trpisovsky said: “I would like a team that would suit us typologically.
“An ideal mix would be a club with a big name and, at the same time, a chance to advance through it.
“If I had to say one particular team, it would probably be Glasgow Rangers. That would be a good draw.”
Now, having shocked Leicester, he has his wish in the last 16.
Before the draw, he said: “I would like to take Slavia to the British Isles again. To play against Rangers would be fantastic for us.”
JACK ROSS insists the SFA should remember their own Covid cock-up when dishing out punishment to member clubs.
The Hibs boss got an apology from the governing body after an assistant referee ran the line during last weekend’s win over Hamilton when he should have been isolating.
Graeme Stewart had been part of Bobby Madden’s team of officials who were