Former Hearts manager Robbie Neilson believes Celtic supporters may initially be unconvinced by the prospect of Jens Berthel Askou being appointed, although he feels the Hoops should still seriously consider the Dane for the role….
Askou – currently in charge of Motherwell – has emerged as a potential candidate for the Celtic vacancy after overseeing an impressive turnaround at Fir Park, where his attacking approach has pushed the club towards European qualification.
Despite the praise for his work this season, questions remain over whether Askou possesses the experience expected of a Celtic manager, particularly at a club where winning trophies is viewed as a minimum requirement.
Would supporters be satisfied with Mercedes Jens?
Some Hoops supporters are thought to be hesitant about appointing a coach without a lengthy record of success at the highest level.
However, Neilson believes Askou’s achievements and style of play make him an option for the position and argues he deserves to be firmly in the conversation as Celtic weigh up their next managerial appointment.
Speaking via BBC Scotland, the ex-Jambo boss said: “Yeah, I think he’s done a fantastic job, and if you’re asking me I think he’d be one of the main candidates, proven what he can do with that Motherwell team and getting that really good style of play. I agree with you though, it would be underwhelming for the fanbase.
“But ultimately where are Celtic at the moment in trying to get a manager? There was talk of Kieran McKenna at Ipswich, just been promoted, he’s not coming. Robbie Keane, maybe. I think Jens Berthel Askou would be a very good appointment. He knows the league now.
“The biggest problem Celtic have got is – what direction are they going in? They don’t have a head coach for next season, they don’t have a head of recruitment and they don’t have players lined up.
Neilson added: “So, how are they going to play? How can you recruit players if you don’t know what a manager wants to do. So is this going to wait until June? So you’ve missed a lot of the good players already because they’ve signed pre-contracts.
“It just seems to be sprialling. And we’ll come to October and they’ve not recruited well bcause they’ve missed this window.
“So they need to get sorted very, very quickly to get plans moving forward. So Jens Berthel Askou would be, in my opinion, a very, very good appointment.”
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