Celtic’s Director of Football search takes unexpected twist

The dramatic change in plans for a new Celtic manager has dominated the headlines over the past few days. But now, it looks like there is a change in the Director of Football situation as well or what it had been thought the situation was in the first place.

Eddie Howe was believed to have been looking to bring in Richard Hughes as the Director of Football before the former Bournemouth manager’s talks broke down with the club.

Then, a move for Fergal Harkin looked likely given his City Football Group connections to Yokohama F. Marinos and his familiarity with Ange Postecoglou. In addition, his working relationship with Mark Lawwell, Head of Scouting and Recruitment at City Football Group, could have played a part in the move.

Now though, it looks like Harkin is not headed to Parkhead after all, despite being rumoured with the move for months now.

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Fergal Harkin is not headed to Celtic to become the Director of Football

As reported by the Daily Record earlier, Harkin was unlikely to land the director of football job at Celtic.

And as reported by Independent the Irishman is not looking to leave Manchester City. It appears that the Director of Football job was not offered to him in the first place:

"While conversations have taken place between Celtic and Harkin, the Director of Football job was not offered to him and he is not seeking a move from the Premier League champions at this time."

That sounds pretty definite. What isn’t clear though is who will join the Hoops in the Director of Football role. Although Shaun Maloney is being linked with the club, you’d expect his involvement to be more as part of a coaching team rather than as the Director of Football, if the move did indeed happen. And he’s not likely to be available for more than a month given his current role with Belgium and with the Euros coming up.

As we quickly approach next season, things remain uncertain around Parkhead. A manager is yet to be appointed while the Director of Football role seems up in the air as well. And at this point of time, one can only hope that the club can make these appointments as soon as possible.