As the heat ramps up on Neil Lennon’s future at Celtic, more rumours are circling that Mauricio Pochettino could be a viable target for Celtic. The Argentine has been out of work since the summer and Charlie Adams reckons that the ex-Spurs gaffer could be an option for the Parkhead board.
There are a few things wrong with this. First off, the Record reports that “fans are already plotting his next successor”. Now I don’t know about you but since when did Celtic fans have ANY say regarding the recruitment process of a new manager/player? To report this in such a way to suggest that the fans are conspiring to set this up is far fetched nonsense.
Secondly, look at the source of the rumour. Charlie Adam. The former RANGERS midfielders opinion is now being sought after to offer his two bobs worth on the inner workings of a club he has never played at or never been involved in. In fact, I would go as far to say that the report is bordering on mischief making. When Gerard’s job was on the line last season, did any of the Scottish media seek out former Celtic players to offer their opinion on who should replace the manager? Absolutely not.
Thirdly, and probably most importantly, Adam likens the current situation to when Celtic signed Brendan Rodgers. Rodgers had an association with the club. His family are Celtic fans and although some doubt if he genuinely was, he claimed he was a fan since he was a boy so the temptation to take the Parkhead hot seat on that basis would have been huge. Pochetinno has so such affinity. He has no connection to the clib and has no experience of Scottish football whatsoever.
Then there is the salary. Poch would command a salary of £7m+. The Argentinians salary at Tottenham would likely to have also included large win bonuses/league placement and European bonuses and it is pretty unlikely he would take a drop in wage of £5m per year. But that is only on the basis that the Celtic board would be willing to pay that kind of money again to a Celtic manager.
While we have a manager, a manager that the board appear to be backing, we should ignore this type of speculation. It does nothing to help the current situation but to unsettle the team further.
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