The Celtic managerial saga continues for another week with more names like Ranieri and Bilic coming into the mix along with those already on the table including Clarke, Mourinho, Hughton, Moyes and of course Neil Lennon.
At the moment there is a distinction between what fans would like and what the board will attempt, the moonbeams around Mourinho have even made it to Chris Sutton’s lips, however, he was quick to qualify that it is a pie in the sky appointment.
It would seem unlikely that Jose would come up to Scotland, he would need massive promises of resources to restructure the squad, he wouldn’t take kindly to being smashed in the continent and the only way to prevent that would be via a massive injection of cash for new personnel.
To be fair even though I loathe Mourinho, I would love to have him at Celtic under those circumstances, spending money, rebuilding the team, taking us a level beyond, again, it is pure moonbeams and of course, such delusion isn’t common to us.
A much better bet and one extremely popular with fans online is Rafa Benitez, himself with 6 weeks left to run on his contract at a massive club that the bookies will give you any odds you ask for that they won’t win any trophies next season.
Newcastle have been skimming through existence since they sold Cole back in the 90’s to Manchester United and essentially hoisted the white flag of mediocrity. They haven’t looked like winning anything save the Championship since.
Rafa will no doubt make more money staying in England, he will also have bigger games than 4 matches against the Ibrox team, but there are some significant carrots to lure him to Paradise.
There is European Football, a squad which is both the best in the country and in need of overhaul, both of which are positives meaning he comes to a winning club whereby he will be given money to build his own team with.
There are of course trophies to be won and the chance to take Celtic to the magic 10 in a row, the last thing of note would be that instead of being the headline act in an under performing team from a football daft city like Newcastle having to explain his failings to the media, he would be the headline act in a football daft country getting to explain his successes.
As with whoever comes on board, if it is money you want then there are better jobs, if it is the spot light you crave then a sold out Paradise is but a fraction of those who will hang off your every move as gaffer.
There is of course the subtext of master and apprentice as we had with Rodgers and Slippy, but that will be for the hacks to write about.
What the fans are saying loud and clear is that Rafa is the man for the job, he has the pedigree and experience, the quality and the charisma that we would love to see in charge of our team as we chase down 9 in a row and beyond.
