Pat Nevin has encouraged Celtic to make an ambitious move for Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna…
The Irishman has been a name that has been connected with Celtic for some time now and many have urged the Scottish Premiership Champions to make a move for the ex-Manchester United coach, before he is out of reach.
The former Motherwell and Chelsea man reckons Celtic have to aim high with this next appointment and McKenna ticks a lot of boxes in this respect.
McKenna is a boyhood Celtic supporter
With the Irish link an obvious one, the fact that McKenna is a boyhood fan of the Glasgow club certainly adds intrigue to the possibilities of him being a viable option to the powerbrokers at Paradise.
Dermot Desmond values Irish connection
It’s no secret that Dermot Desmond is fond of that Irish connection when it comes to proceedings and with McKenna’s support for the club too, it could be an emotional pull for the Tractor’s boss.
Robbie Keane has been mentioned for some time now and with his recent departure from Hungarian side Ferencvaros, many have speculated that he is being teed up for the new Hoops manager gig by the majority shareholder.
For now though, that is all merely conjecture.
Nevin has given his tuppence worth
However, BBC Sport pundit Nevin has given his tuppence worth on the next manager debate and threw McKenna’s name right into the mix this summer. “The next Celtic manager? Kieran McKenna has shown a fabulous commitment and a fabulous attitude to stick around when there was a chance to jump before,” Nevin told Grovesnor Casinos.
“Most Ipswich fans will accept that McKenna has done a great job for them and if he goes now then fine. McKenna works well for Celtic. He’s the right age, his profile’s good. And the football’s not bad either. Celtic aim high and McKenna is a high aim,” he added.
A show of intent from Celtic
McKenna would be a show of intent from Celtic, considering his track record and ability to work with and develop players, alongside his eye-catching style, as Nevin alluded to. Again though, it would take serious clout for a move like this to come to fruition and the Club would need to show that they were serious about investment and development long-term, as well as progress on the European circuit.
Paul Gillespie
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1 Comment
Very doubtful, when you consider the lure of the riches that comes with the EPL. That’s compared to what we can offer with trophies in Scottish football and European football?
As we are so dominant within Scottish football now, continuing to win trophies within Scottish football, is possibly not regarding that highly outside of ourselves these days imo?
So it’s the attraction of potential CL football, is our strongest selling point for managerial candidates? Even with that, we are looking to attract the player’s required, with a smaller budget available, and without much, if any of a track record in player development?
I wouldn’t class player development as making profits upon player’s within our player trading model imo?
The player trading model will remain strong, all the while success is being generated within Scottish football, by how many? Will depend upon preforming levels within the European stage, especially CL?
In that regards, Robbie Keane would have a better track record than Mckenna, within the European footballing scene. This despite Mckenna having a potential bigger profile due to being involved within the EPL?
Financially Keane would be far cheaper than Mckenna at present?
But Mckenna could well be accepted easier within our supporters than Keane possibly would be?
That’s the sort of comparisons that will exist, within the decision making, upon potentially managers alone?
This before we even get started upon trying to buy players of similar or better quality for less than we sell players for, who are successful within our club?
Things would be far easier for ourselves, if a player development programme was in operation for ourselves within Scottish football, but it isn’t?
Looking at a loan system for placing the unwanted players in the shop window, to try and reduce the costs of them being unsuccessful with ourselves still takes preference over trying for players to gain more match involvement and gaining experience?
So our managerial job, does come with its limited opportunities, which such a high demand of instant success gained within the transfer market?
This despite, if a 50% success rate is achieved for any manager over his period in charge, wouldn’t be a bad return?
Especially when that 50% success rate more than covers the losses made within the player trading model within the transfer market?
A vicious cycle remains in operation for any potential manager within our club, with little chance of that changing anytime soon either imo?
Somehow, think Mckenna would feel far more comfortable within his current job, than looking at what our overall job entails imo? Same will possibly go for many of the higher profile managers imo?