As Celtic potentially enter the summer managerless, rudderless and disjointed, the hunt continues for the right candidate to take the Parkhead hotseat. With Jesse Marsh apparently declaring interest then to rule himself out no more than 24 hours later, it seems that whatever is going at Celtic Park, the board are not of a mind to let anything out the bag until their new man has been bagged.
Just recently a name has popped into the bookies list to take over the Paradise hot seat. This man certainly seems to have the pedigree and ticks all the boxes that would please the Celtic fans and board.
He’s available right now (one for the board), has a track record of being successful whilst downsizing and building a new squad. He also has credible European experience and has won a French Ligue 1 title.
Up step Leonardo Jardim. Jardim took over a Monaco side in 2014 at a time when their billionaire owner had literally stopped pumping money into the club. Jardim was forced to offload top assets like Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez. In his first season, the Portuguese, finished a respectable 3rd in Ligue 1 and reached the last 16 of the Champions League.
Leonardo Jardim as next Celtic Manager?YES
NO
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The following season, Jardim mirrored his successes of the previous season and after selling top talents like Layvin Kurzawa and Yannick Carrasco, Jardim again led his French stars to 3rd in Ligue 1. In season 2016/17, the club had stabilised and Jardim was able to keep his squad relatively intact. He romped Ligue 1 ahead of Paris St Germain by 8 points.
The most impressive part of this season was that Jardim had his team playing expansive and attractive football, scoring over 100 goals but only conceding 37. They were a very tight, defensive unit whilst able to break down stubborn defences. Monaco also reached the Champions League semi finals, Coupe de France semi finalists and runners up in the Coupe de la Ligue.
Jardim certainly fits the bill and as an outside bet at 33/1 there could be some leverage in this as current favourites like Frank Lampard, Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney all began as such long odds, do the bookies know something we do not?
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