Celtic

Celtic: Watt calls for the Hoops to ‘look at guys like Marco Silva’ to replace Lennon

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Image for Celtic: Watt calls for the Hoops to ‘look at guys like Marco Silva’ to replace Lennon

Paul John Dykes, John-Paul Mason and Colin Watt discussed all of the latest Celtic news during a recent live stream of Hoops-focused podcast A Celtic State of Mind, following the Glasgow club’s 1-1 Premiership draw with St. Johnstone this past weekend. During the show, they spent some time talking about potential replacements for current Celtic manager Neil Lennon. 

It may be fair to say that Lennon’s position at Parkhead is not looking extremely secure at present, with Celtic having managed to win just two of their last 12 games in all competitions.

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This has led to some Hoops supporters calling for Lennon to be sacked, and on the topic of potential replacements for the Northern Irishman, Watt named ex-Everton boss Marco Silva as an example of the type of manager that he thinks Celtic should be aiming for during this live stream, saying:

“For me, you’ve got to look at guys like Marco Silva or Eddie Howe, and I know I’m going to get abuse for that, because they’ll say that there would be nothing there to bring them to the club – but you’ve got to look at these guys.

“These guys aren’t in a job at the moment, they’re looking to make that step – if you look at the step that [Brendan] Rodgers made to get from the team he was at, at Liverpool, to take the Celtic job, which was a massive risk for his reputation, turned it around and then got a job where he’s now within the top half of the Premier League.

“I’ve seen a lot of people say that no manager worth his salt’s going to come in because he’ll be known as the manager that’s lost the 10 if they don’t win the league – I don’t buy into that, because they’re coming in and the situation is so difficult that no Celtic fan could look at them and say it was their fault that we lost the title unless things went seriously, seriously wrong.”

Would you like to see Silva replace Lennon?

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TIF Thoughts on what Watt had to say about “guys like Marco Silva”…

Perhaps Silva’s current situation is similar to the one Rodgers was in when he became Celtic boss back in May 2016

Rodgers was sacked by Liverpool months before joining the Hoops and the Leicester City manager, who was described as being ‘highly sought after’ by Celtic’s chief executive Peter Lawwell at the time, went on to guide Celtic to two straight Scottish top-flight titles during his time at the club, taking advantage of the ‘great opportunity’ that had been presented to him, as stated by ex-Hoops player John Hartson, before he returned to England’s top-flight to take charge of the Foxes, where he remains today, having helped the team to earn seven wins from their first 11 league games of the 2020/21 campaign

Before his difficult spell in charge of Everton, Silva was also a highly sought-after manager and if the 43-year-old were to take the Celtic job and deliver similar success as Rodgers did at Parkhead, perhaps Silva would repair his reputation and follow a similar path as Rodgers if that is his goal.

However, you could say that Celtic are not in a similar position now, compared to the one they were in when Rodgers took charge, as if the Glasgow club were to part ways with Lennon, the new manager’s immediate task would be to turn their poor run of form around and try to get them back on track to win what would be a historic 10th-straight Premiership title

The potential pressure of that task may be off-putting, especially with their rivals, Rangers, in very good form at present, so maybe the risk involved with taking over from Lennon would make it difficult for the club to attract a manager like Silva. 

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