Paul John Dykes and Kevin Graham spent some time discussing the possibility of Celtic manager Neil Lennon being sacked by the Glasgow club on the latest edition of A Celtic State of Mind.
Despite getting knocked out of both the UEFA Europa League and the Scottish League Cup in the last week, Celtic reportedly still back Lennon.
However, a lot of the Glasgow club’s supporters don’t seem to have as much faith in the 49-year-old Northern Irishman, as is evident by the fact that crowds of Hoops fans gathered outside of their stadium following their 2-0 League Cup loss to Ross County at the weekend to call for the manager to be sacked.
With that in mind, perhaps it’s understandable why the possibility of Lennon being sacked was one of the main topics of discussion on this edition of A Celtic State of Mind and on that topic, Dykes brought up Mark Hughes as a possible replacement for Lennon and shared that he believes the fact that the 57-year-old former English Premier League manager is currently without a club shows that the Hoops do have options if they opt to pull the trigger on Lennon, saying:
“Mark Hughes is a name that’s cropped up over the last few days, I think the Celtic support are kind of divided on that one.
“I think that one of the biggest reasons for bringing his name up was [as] an example of the type of manager who’s out of business at the moment, who’s got a huge amount of experience in the English league. I’m not saying he’s definitely the man for the Celtic job – there’s plenty of options is what I’m trying to say; there are many, many options out there.
“It’s still an attractive proposition, and surely the Celtic board aren’t fearful that we can’t get somebody better than what we’ve already got in terms of a coaching team.”
Would Hughes be a good appointment for Celtic?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts on what Dykes had to say about Hughes and Celtic’s options to replace Lennon…
It’s been two years since Hughes last managed a club, so it would appear as though he may not be a particularly in-demand name. Additionally, given that he’s never won a trophy in his managerial career, is he a great example of the kind of options that Celtic may have should they part ways with Lennon?
On one hand, yes, the Hoops’ form has been poor under Lennon of late but at least the Northern Irishman has guided the Glasgow club to silverware in the past, so perhaps there are no guarantees that a manager like Hughes would be an upgrade on Lennon.
As a result, we feel that while other out of contract managers like ex-Hoops boss Martin O’Neill could perhaps convince the Celtic decision-makers that there are options out there if they do wish to part ways with Lennon, the prospect of snapping up Hughes is unlikely to convince them to change their mind on backing the 49-year-old.