Malcolm Couzens / .
Stoke City manager Michael O’Neill is in line to replace Neil Lennon at Celtic with Nick Hammond, a longtime fan of the Northern Irishman, 90Min reported.
One of the biggest allegations leveled at Lennon during the bleak end of his tenure at Parkhead centered on the feeling that a talented Celtic side was playing far worse than the sum of its parts.
O’Neill, on the other hand, is a coach famous for his ability to harness every ounce of player potential at his disposal.
After all, it was he who guided a rather limited team from Northern Ireland to Euro 2016, turning a team of mostly lower-league players and grizzled veterans into a united group capable of the most unexpected results.
Attracting an elite manager: the case of Celtic
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Attracting an elite manager: the case of Celtic
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And for 18 months in charge of Stoke City, the Potters have gone from the bottom of the championship to just a few points from the play-off spots.
So you can see why Hammond, Celtic’s head of football operations, is a huge fan of a man he looked at in 2018 when West Brom was searching for the successor to Alan Pardew (TEAMtalk).
Images by Matthew Lewis /.
90Min adds that O’Neill turned down the Glasgow giants five years ago, refusing to leave Northern Ireland at the time.
Considering that Brendan Rodgers would eventually take the job, guiding Celtic to three straight Premiership titles during a period of huge success, it’s safe to assume that Hoops fans won’t regret how things turned out.
But while things are still going well in Stoke, could O’Neill be lured north of the border the second time he asks?
Charles McQuillan / .
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