Celtic’s hunt to bring a new manager to the Bhoys dugout already feels like a tired and drawn-out affair.
Parkhead witnessed Neil Lennon leave the job a number of weeks ago but we are still no closer to discovering who his replacement could be.
What’s the word?
Eddie Howe is the undoubted favourite for the role at the minute. He was in advanced talks with the Hoops hierarchy but things have stalled for the time being.
That’s because of a number of reasons. Howe doesn’t want to return to management until the summer while issues are lingering over the backroom staff he wants to bring with him.
One source suggests that Celtic have said no to his requests, one of which could be to bring Richard Hughes to the club instead of Fergal Harkin.
However, a new reason has come to light. Speaking to Transfer Tavern, Peterborough director of football Barry Fry said: “He’ll have to do a lot of work, because Celtic on and off the field are in a little bit of disarray at the minute. You know what I mean?"
Fry continued: “There’s a lot of players unhappy. I think there’ll be a lot of comings and goings at Celtic in the summer and I’m not sure that’s Eddie Howe’s thing. I think he’ll want a Premier League job to be quite honest.”
Fry has plenty of contacts within the game, mainly in the Premier League and English football, so his words should be taken with more than a pinch of salt.
More twists to come
With Howe waiting until the summer to take up a new job, perhaps he’ll look to see the impact Dominic McKay has when he arrives at the club.
McKay is due to replace Peter Lawwell as Celtic’s CEO and his main task when he walks through the door will be to address the playing squad.
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This could lead to plenty of twists in terms of staff upheaval. Of course, both Odsonne Edouard and Kristoffer Ajer are linked with exits while they need to address the future of Karamoko Dembele too.
If McKay can get some of those players so stay then it may turn out that Howe does want to come to Glasgow. After all, a Celtic team without Edouard and Ajer would be even tougher to manage.
A move to the Premier League seems safer for the 43-year-old but if he really wants to test and prove himself, Celtic is the place to do that.
Lucien Favre has emerged as an alternative for the former Cherries boss and could be more suited to the current situation at Paradise.
He took over at Borussia Dortmund in 2018 when the club were rather lost in a transitional stage of their history. When he first took on the role in Germany, he said: "Training Borussia Dortmund is an appealing task that I am taking on gladly. We will now build a new team together.”
The Swiss coach didn’t win a trophy with Dortmund but he did reignite a lost spark; winning 61.82% of his matches before being given the boot.
That was a big improvement on the man who managed the Bundesliga outfit before him; Peter Stoger. He won just 41.67% of his games so Favre was clearly adept at rebuilding a team.
Bearing in mind Fry’s comments, perhaps the biggest twist of them all could occur in the coming weeks; forgetting about Howe and moving on to other targets.