Celtic plead for patience and tell support: ‘We’re doing all we can’
Celtic have told supporters they are doing all they can to recruit a new manager.
Fans have been growing increasingly frustrated with the progress regarding a replacement for Neil Lennon. John Kennedy has been in interim charge and has two games left of the campaign.
Eddie Howe is the strong favourite to land the manager’s job but, with 73 days before Celtic’s first Champions League qualifying match of the new campaign, supporters are getting impatient.
In a statement issued yesterday, Celtic noted they are in a “transitional period” with Dominic Mckay replacing Peter Lawwell as chief executive but that “considerable planning and preparatory work” has been undertaken.
“The club is working hard to complete the appointment of the new Celtic manager and relevant football staff and will be doing all we can to confirm this as soon as possible to our supporters,” the statement read.
“Rightly, there will always be a huge appetite for information from our supporters – unfortunately we are not able to make regular public comment on this matter, but we fully understand and appreciate the need to complete this process as soon as we can.
"We also acknowledge and understand the frustration of our supporters during this process, but our objective of course is to ensure that we secure the best candidate possible to take the club forward and this is our focus. We will update all our supporters through our club communication channels as soon as we are able to.”
Celtic are also close to making an announcement regarding season tickets, assuring fans that getting them back into the stadium is a “major priority” following a rare, trophyless campaign.
The statement added: “We have not been able to deliver the kind of season we have become so used to and after such a sustained period of success, we sincerely understand the disappointment and frustration of our supporters – now we make it our objective to return the club to the top in the shortest possible timeframe.”
Brighton manager Graham Potter has vowed to get Shane Duffy “back on his feet” after the defender returned early from his disastrous loan spell at Celtic.
The Scottish Premiership side made the decision to end the Irish international’s loan deal early after it was discovered he would be unavailable for the last two games of the season through injury.
Duffy, a boyhood Celtic fan, arrived at Parkhead with much fanfare due to his wealth of experience playing in the English Premier League. However, his underwhelming performances meant he soon became the poster boy for Celtic’s nightmare of a season.
The 29-year-old posted a message on his Instagram page yesterday thanking the fans for their support in what he called a “tough year on and off the park”.
This sentiment was echoed by Potter as he welcomed the player back into the fold for the end of the English Premier League season.
The Seagulls manager said: "He's had a tough time, I would say. Sometimes in football things don't go as you want them to go.
"Shane's had some tough challenges off the pitch, losing his father just before he went to Celtic was a huge challenge for him, as you can imagine.
"From our perspective, he's always welcome here, he's been a fantastic servant for this club, well-liked in the dressing room, so it's important for us now to help him get back on his feet and to put him in an environment where he feels secure and enjoys his football and that's what we will try to do for the next couple of weeks.”