Who could we replace Ange with?

No easy mate but someone with the same kinda style and principles..

 

His Swansea team were good too. Mind you, so was Rodger's lol

 

No I didn’t gloss over it.

I recognised the importance of it, but disagreed with you that our problems were solely down to personnel issues.

You were making it all about players and ignoring our tactical frailties in Europe. I disagreed with your stance. I didn’t disagree with the need to find a good defensive midfielder.

You have mistakenly misinterpreted this as being a sign that I didn’t value the qualities of a good defensive midfielder. But this is just your mistaken interpretation of my comments. I said nothing of the sort.

 

Brendan Rodgers would have to be persuaded into making a major life-style U-turn if Celtic are to lure him into a sensational return to the club as Ange Postecoglou’s replacement. And that could open the door for Manchester City No.2 Enzo Maresca to take the Parkhead job.

Record Sport understands the Northern Irishman has told friends and family he plans to take a year out of football’s front-line following his recent departure from Leicester City. And, after taking that prolonged sabbatical, Rodgers had been hoping to get back into management with a move abroad to one of Europe’s top leagues.

As recently as last week, Rodgers had no plans to make a quick return to the game unless he was offered a job that was ‘too good to turn down’. But the 50-year-old’s best laid plans may have changed dramatically on Monday when Postecoglou put pen to paper on a contract with Spurs to become Antonio Conte’s successor. Rodgers was immediately installed by bookies as the red hot favourite to take over from the Australian in Glasgow’s east end - four years after walking out of the job to move to the King Power.

That sparked a furious backlash from Celtic’s support and Rodgers is also aware that his soured relationship with the club’s fans might force major shareholder Dermott Desmond and chairman Peter Lawwell to look elsewhere. But Rodgers’ trophy laden record on the pitch at Parkhead, where he bagged back-to-back trebles in his first two seasons and sent the club on its way to a third successive clean sweep before leaving for Leicester, could prove too difficult for the hierarchy to ignore.

But if Rodgers can’t be persuaded, then the second-favourite for the job would be Maresca. Pep Guardiola’s assistant has backing within the Parkhead hierarchy and he is amongst the managerial options they are looking at to replace their Tottenham Hotspur-bound boss.

Maresca has been one of Guardiola’s key assistants since he returned to the Etihad Stadium last year. City are chasing a treble and will be looking to see off Inter Milan in the Champions League final with any Celtic move put on hold until after that.

Maresca was previously Under-23 coach with the Premier League champs before he left in 2021 for a spell in charge of Parma. Celtic have close links to City, where the Hoops’ head of first-team scouting and recruitment Mark Lawwell, son of chairman Peter, made the switch.

Former Leeds boss Jesse Marsch and Graham Potter – available after a chaotic seven months at basket-case Chelsea – have also been mentioned. But Record Sport understands Celtic have been alerted to potential ‘red flags’ over Marsch following the American’s dismal run at Elland Road which led to relegation.

Desmond and Lawwell produced Postecoglou as a wild card two years ago after a long-running and ill-fated attempt to lure Eddie Howe north. And it’s understood that surprise move was a result of Lawwell’s connections with the City Group.

Postecoglou, 57, became a smash hit in Scottish football, winning a double in his first season. He then delivered the club’s world-record eighth treble on Saturday with a Scottish Cup final win over Inverness Caley Thistle.

Record Sport revealed the Aussie’s agent, Frank Trimboli, was thrashing out a deal with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy. Celtic officially granted Spurs permission to open talks with Postecoglou yesterday morning but it’s understood Trimboli had already agreed the terms of a two-year deal with a one-year option.

By tea-time, sources in London confirmed an agreement was reached ‘in principle’ which would see Postecoglou confirmed as their new boss in a deal that will cost seven figures in compensation. Postecoglou wants Celts coaches John Kennedy and Gavin Strachan join him.

 

I disagree. He did a poor job.

 

Mad that I lived in Denmark and remember Jon Dahl breaking through (and the Ajax story lol) jaysus I'm ancient. He'd have a good tap into the Danish market and they have some good players there but err....

 

Basically, the undercover journo's on this site - read this site.

 

Wouldn’t blame Potter one bit for what happened at Chelsea with all the * that’s been happening their this season.

Too many players to fit in changing room and changing in hallways, players having to sit on the floor in team meetings to make space, having to have two separate groups of players for training sessions basically because their was so many.

De Zerbi improving on the outstanding job he done at Brighton says more about how good De Zerbi is as well.

 

You said it wouldn’t have mattered. Now seem to be placing a lot of significance in the position however. Let me know if I’ve mistaken anything else though.

 

Harry Kewell here for 10 in a row.

 

& how well run Brighton are.

 

Aye that as well but was meaning more in the people maybe using the job De Zerbi’s as a criticism against Potter mate.

Their recruitment and player development is phenomenal as well. Continuously lose staff in both departments as well but keep improving.

 

Rodgers all day over maresca massive gamble anyone who disagrees knows nothing about football and should follow rugby or something

 

No I didn’t say it wouldn’t have mattered. Get your facts straight.

We very clearly needed a defensive midfielder, and I agreed with you on that. But we disagreed on the level of impact such a player would make without also altering the tactical approach.

You’re getting a bit desperate now, to put words in my mouth that I never said. I know exactly what I said, and my opinion hasn’t changed since we had that conversation.

I get the feeling you might be deliberately misinterpreting my remarks, just so you can score some silly gotcha moment… but it hasn’t worked out very well for you.

 

Maybe, but probably not. I think the new guy will probably have to prove first that he can be trusted to spend that much money wisely and quite rightly so. The sad thing is that we were willing to go all in with Ange because he had already proved that.

 

I know it won't work like this, but I would like one of the criteria for getting someone to the table in the first place being them being able to identify players and maximise a budget and having discussions around that and how much said manager could expect budget wise and what he would be looking to do with it, style of play and ambitions, etc.

 

Rodgers shouldn't be allowed back.
Moyes is a dinosaur.
Maresca looks to be an assistant, but not a manager.
Knudsen plays some terrific football in Norway.
Potter is a nonstarter.
Marsch hasn't done anything outside of Salzburg, which isn't a tough job.
Kennedy isn't ready for the job and may be off anyway.
Muscat has been impressive wherever he has been in Asia.
Iraoli I've never heard of.
Clarke doesn't play attractive football.

That's Paddy Power's favourites for the job and the only ones who I'd be interested in is Muscat or Knudsen (admittedly, I know nothing about Iraoli).

 

What about Glasner? He's leaving Frankfurt. Only watched them vs the huns in last years EL final and they weren't exactly impressive but I've heard good things about him.

 

Could we tempt Marcelo Gallardo?

 

It's a largely uninspiring list. Hopefully we have a left field appointment like Ange was or someone known but we keep it under the radar.