Incredible Paolo di Canio to Celtic claim has emerged

Over the years, the Celtic managerial situation has not been the most stable, even when they were enjoying a lot of success over the past decade or so. One of the most interesting appointments that the club had made was that of Ronny Deila. Initial suggestions had been that he would only be brought in as an assistant to someone more experienced but when the Hoops could not get that done, the Norwegian took the hot seat himself.

Deila’s time at Celtic brought success but at the same time, it came with its setbacks as well and ultimately, he would be gone after a couple of years.

But it looks like before Celtic brought in Deila, they had potential plans to appoint Paolo di Canio as the club’s manager, which would have been a significantly more controversial decision to say the least.

In fact, it looks like Di Canio did not take the Parkhead job because the club wanted him to work with the staff that were already in place at Celtic. As reported by The Scottish Sun, the Italian’s former assistant manager, Fabrizio Piccareta, said:

"“After we left Sunderland, he received a firm proposal from Celtic and he was offered the manager’s job.“But Celtic insisted they keep the staff that was there in place already in Glasgow.“In order not to abandon me and the staff he worked with previously, Paolo refused the job offer.”"

Incredible Di Canio to Celtic claim emerges

Di Canio had a brief spell at Celtic as a player. But even then, it is hard to understand why the club would have been interested in bringing him in as the manager in 2014, especially after his disappointing run at Sunderland, which had seen him being shown the exit door after just 13 games. Before that, he had managed Swindon Town.

And that is not even bringing up the controversy that such an appointment may very well have caused, not just because of on-field but off-field reasons as well.

It ultimately did not materialise though and that was perhaps for the best, for all parties involved. Interestingly, Di Canio has never managed a club since 2013.