New contenders emerge to be next the Celtic manager

At last, amidst the doom and gloom of the season there are now brighter and exciting prospects emerging as contenders to be the next Celtic manager. For a while it was looking as if the club would struggle through the rest of the season and hope someone exciting would be available for the post come May.

While fans waited for the club or Neil Lennon to make their move, there weren’t too many serious options around as the next manager. Eddie Howe has been a constant but never perhaps a realistic option. Steve Clarke being a seemingly easy and simple possibility after managing the Scotland national team in the Euros next summer.

Those were the likely scenarios but the list on the Celtic board’s notepads was pretty short when it came to alternative options.

Maybe fans will be able to get some excitement from new prospects throwing their managerial hat in the ring. Or being suggested by others to test the water and see what the reaction is. How realistic or even attractive these are remains to be seen, but there is definitely strong signs of growing interest in the role across the football world. And rightly so.

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Celtic being linked with different managers

Emerging with some interest are names like Frank Lampard, Dan Petrescu, who has left a role in Turkey within months of taking over, Sean Dyche of Burnley tipped to be keen on a new challenge, David Wagner with good German coaching credentials but limited success and a tough time at Schalke.

Roberto Martinez paired with Shaun Maloney appear back in the frame despite having perhaps a stronger attraction in managing Belgium. Old favourites such as Roy Keane, Gordon Strachan, Martin O’Neill are all being mentioned again as is John Kennedy too, but those regular Celtic-minded names all seem unlikely.

Perhaps a strong contender could be a pairing of Fergal Harkin as Director of Football along with his Manchester City colleague Enzo Maresca, currently head coach of Elite Development Squad at the club. But pleasingly and with added excitement, more and more potential managers are being mentioned now that the vacancy is real.

There is significant interest emerging and the media find more names every day as the Daily Record list of contenders shows. Hopefully that will raise the stakes on the board about making a good and strong appointment. It’s a huge job, at a huge club. As a result, it’s a significant decision to make and great to see more possibilities continue to emerge.