Hamish Carton discussed potential replacements for under pressure Celtic manager Neil Lennon during a recent YouTube video and he spent some time talking about the possibility of Alex Neil succeeding the Northern Irishman at Parkhead during the show.
The 39-year-old is currently the manager of EFL Championship side Preston North End, who sit in 12th place in England’s second-tier at present.
He has previous experience of managing in Scotland from his time as Hamilton Academical boss, with Neil having been in charge of the club, at which he ended his playing career, from April 2013 until January 2015.
Indeed, Celtic have struggled to grind out a consistent run of positive results so far this season, with just two wins in their last eight games in all competitions, which includes a semi-final win over Aberdeen. Celtic are currently 11 points behind their Old Firm rivals in the Scottish Premiership with two games in hand and have the chance to secure 10-in-a-row, so there’s plenty of pressure on Lennon’s shoulders right now.
Here is what Carton had to say about the possibility of Neil replacing Lennon, should Celtic decide to part ways with the 49-year-old coach, during this YouTube video:
“He’s a really exciting Scottish boss. Is he the guy to come and transform Celtic? The jury’s out for me, I’m probably edging towards no but is he better than the guy we’ve got in charge at the moment? 100%.”
Would you like to see Alex Neil as Celtic boss?
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NO
TIF Thoughts on what Carton had to say about the possibility of Neil replacing Lennon at Celtic…
Neil has enjoyed some success thus far in his managerial career. He guided Hamilton to promotion in his first senior job in football management back in the 2013/14 campaign, he guided Norwich City to promotion from the Championship to the Premier League back in the 2014/15 campaign, while he helped his current club Preston to achieve their highest finish in England’s second-tier since the 2008/09 campaign during his first season at Deepdale – the 2017/18 campaign – guiding them to a seventh-place finish that term.
However, while he’s enjoyed play-off success, Neil is yet to actually claim a single league title in his career and perhaps this could be held against him by Celtic’s decision-makers, if they do end up searching for a new manager this term while they are trying to win their 10th Premiership title in a row.
As a result, we feel that there may be too much risk involved with appointing Neil, even if he would be an upgrade on Lennon as Carton seems to think, and perhaps other potential replacements for the Northern Irishman would be better suited for the role if Lennon does leave.