Celtic are the best team in Scotland right now. That is not even up for debate. But even a few years back, the picture was not as rosy. The Hoops failed in their attempt to win a historic 10IAR back in the 2020/21 season. Not only did they fail but in spectacular fashion, finishing 25 points behind the Rangers in the league and trophyless overall.
That resulted in Neil Lennon stepping down in the middle of the season and John Kennedy seeing it out as the interim manager. And going into the summer of 2021, the club were in search of a permanent one.
Eddie Howe quickly emerged as the heavy favourite to land the Celtic job. But just when it looked like the appointment was inevitable, the Englishman turned it down.
Naturally, Celtic fans were disappointed, with the manager and the club. It all worked out well in the end though. Ange Postecoglou was brought in instead and he went on to rebuild the team quicker than anybody would have expected and won five trophies in two years at Parkhead. On the other hand, Howe ended up getting the Newcastle United job soon afterwards and remains in charge at St James' Park.
Eddie Howe reacts to claim that he bottled Celtic job
As reported by 67 Hail Hail, reacting to Simon Jordan's claim that he had bottled the chance to manage Celtic on the Up Front podcast, Howe said:
"Yeah, so during that period that I’d had out, I’d had a few job offers, but I’d said I’m not considering anything to a year. That year had passed and Celtic came up and I was immediately attracted to the job. I thought, ‘Wow, what an opportunity. What a football club’.
“Great people as well. The people I met were unbelievable. So there was no downside for me, but I had to get my staff together."
It looks like it all came down to Howe failing to get his staff together, which resulted in him turning down the opportunity. The Newcastle United manager continued:
"I could have gone in on my own and worked with the staff that are there.
“I felt I needed to go in at my strongest. My strongest would have been with my team, so that’s Jason Tindall, Steven Purchase, Simon Weatherstone, and Dan Hodges. These are important people to me.
“So I’d sort of made my decision. I was really keen to go. Jason had left Bournemouth, but I couldn’t get them together. I couldn’t get the team to all agree. And it wasn’t necessarily I needed every single one of them. But of course, that’s an important dynamic.
“And I didn’t feel that was right for me to take the opportunity. In that moment would have been wrong for Celtic as well, I think. So I declined the offer."
At this point, it is all water under the bridge. Howe rejecting the job might have seemed like a major blow back then, but Celtic have known nothing but success since. On the other hand, it has worked out well for the Englishman as well as he continues to manage Newcastle United.