Stephen McManus has welcomed the arrival of Ross Grant to Celtic’s first-team coaching setup, backing the club’s new set-piece specialist to make an immediate impact.
McManus, who stepped up from managing the B Team to join the senior coaching staff on a permanent basis after initially moving into Martin O’Neill’s backroom team last summer, will now work alongside Grant ahead of the new campaign.
Grant arrives at the Scottish champions following an impressive spell with Hearts, where his work on set-pieces attracted attention after the Tynecastle side enjoyed an historic season. He replaces Gavin Strachan, who recently departed to join West Bromwich Albion.
Speaking to the club’s new streaming platform, CelticPlayer, McManus said: “I think it’s certainly an area that, as the game’s evolved over the last four or five years…
“The work that Gavin’s done with the set-players was incredible.
“He’s a top, top fella and a top, top coach, so Gavin’s going to be a big, big miss.
“Ross has come in again with new ideas, fresh ideas, and he focused a lot on the set-pieces.
“We welcome him into the coaching staff, and you can see the qualities – as a person, as a coach – that he’s going to bring. We’re excited to see how it goes.”
The former Celtic defender also gave an upbeat assessment of the squad’s return for pre-season, praising the players’ attitude and fitness levels after their summer break.
“Yeah, really good. The boys have come in and worked really well.
“It’s been a tough week, it’s always the first week of pre-season, so there’s a lot of testing in the first day, but the boys have come in, as always our lads have come in, in really good shape.
“They’ve enjoyed the break and now they’re looking forward to the games coming back fast in pre-season.”
Celtic begin their pre-season schedule with a trip to Shelbourne on Tuesday evening before welcoming Middlesbrough and AC Milan to Celtic Park later this month.
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