Manager rubbishes rumours linking him with Celtic job

The Romanian legend has rubbished rumours claiming he was in talks with Celtic to take over from Neil Lennon and it is for the best, for everybody involved.

It is no secret that many want Neil Lenon out as Celtic manager, however, replacing him with the man who they have been linked with would be met with even more controversy.

While Neil Lennon is with his squad in Dubai, his job has been the product of rather an outlandish speculation. Reports from Romania had stated that Celtic were in talks with the chairman of Viitorul Constanța, Gheorghe Hagi, the father of Rangers star Ianis Hagi.

Hagi was a world-class player back in his day, spending time with both Real Madrid and Barcelona, before topping his playing days with five years at Galatasaray. He was among the best around, earning a number of accolades, including being voted #25 on World Soccer Magazine’s 100 Greatest Players of the 20th Century.

The Romanian legend got his first managerial gig in 2001 with the Romanian National Team, a short-lived stint after failing to qualify for the World Cup, which led to his sacking six months later. Hagi then had another short stint, but this time with Turkish side Bursaspor. It was another failed venture.

He then returned to his old club Galatasaray and won the Turkish Super Cup in 2005 before parting ways, leading to a pair of head coaching jobs in Romania before returning to the Turkish giants in 2010 but he was sacked five months later.

Prior to his appointment as Galatasaray manager, Hagi founded FC Viitorul Constanța in 2009, which started playing out of the Romanian Liga III. Hagi appointed himself to be the club’s manager in 2014, where he led his side to win the Liga I title in 2016-17. During his time as manager of Viitorul, he won two Romania Manager of the Year awards. But he stepped down as manager after a poor run of form in August of 2020.

Ianis Hagi started his career at his father’s club, from where he signed with Genk before Rangers brought him to Scotland a year ago. Gheorghe made recent headlines for his appraisal of Steven Gerrard’s side, titling them “the best team in Europe.”

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The 55-year-old has already issued a response to the rumours of him replacing Neil Lennon at Parkhead via a news release from FC Viitorul’s website:

"“Following the articles published in all the sports press in Romania, regarding the alleged discussions with the Celtic Glasgow team, I specify that they DO NOT EXIST, THEY ARE COMPLETELY FALSE SPECULATIONS, WITHOUT HAVING A REAL BASIS”"

This should just about put an end to this rumour. It made absolutely no sense in the first place for Celtic to sign a manager with very little success, no matter how great of a player he was. If he were to somehow land the job, it would make for some awkward Glasgow Derby matches as well, as long as his son suits up for the Rangers.

In reality, this has to be among the wildest rumours in recent years. Celtic were probably closer to signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic than even thinking about bringing Hagi in as manager.