Season 16-17 | Vital Football

Season 16-17

wee_od_88

wee_od_88

Vital Football Hero
Decided to start a new thread looking ahead to next season (I know, it's a bit early).

Thought I'd start on a slightly different slant though......potential new managers! I've not done this before as I've given Deila the benefit of the doubt, but the clock is ticking for real now!

So far we've had Michael O'Neill to take over after Euro 2016, Ryan Giggs missing a Man Utd game to be in talks with Celtic (false beyond belief) and now Alan Stubbs to leave Hibs for us.

I read one opinion in the media that Stubbs was the "standout candidate" right now.....don't get me wrong I think Stubbs has done well with Hibs but he has no European experience and really his transfer market activity has not really been tested yet! I don't think he's quite ready, he needs more experience and against better opposition.

So who else?
David Moyes - probably quite a popular choice with most fans. Did a great job at Everton, was in an almost impossible position at Man Utd taking over from Fergie but the players were not performing either! Then he was at Real Sociedad, things started well but went a little downhill this season before getting the boot. He's got a good mix of ability to bring through young players as well as making some shrewd signings! He's got the Celtic connection being a former player as well.
42% wins.
26.5% draws.
31.5% loss.

Brendan Rogers - out of work since being sacked by Liverpool earlier this season. His record is not actually that impressive. His overall (Watford, Reading, Swansea and Liverpool) win % is 46.5%, draw 22.5% and loss 31%.
There's not much doubt about his style of play and his ability to manage at the top level.

Tim Sherwood - only had 2 jobs so far, both in the EPL but he's still got a win % of 50%. He took over at Spurs and did well and was probably unlucky not to keep his job there, but equally you can't argue that Spurs made a good choice with Pochettino. His next job, at Aston Villa, was a very difficult one but he managed to keep them up by getting the best out of what he had. Things didn't go well this season however but not all of that blame can lie with the manager. He had a chairman who wants to sell the club, the team has been in a mess for a number of years and the quality was simply not there. The players he signed in the summer, and they did actually spend a fair bit of money, still didn't work out for him this season. The main problem was a goalscorer though. He lost Benteke to Liverpool but then bought another striker in Gestede who has struggled at stepping up a division. So question marks still remain over his ability with transfers but there's no doubt he's still a good manager.

Roberto Di Matteo - the Italian, born in Switzerland in case you didn't know, has been out of work since leaving Schalke in May last year. He started off as manager at MK Dons before spending 18 months in charge of West Brom where he won plaudits for his style of football, he just unfortunately wasn't getting the results. He then became assistant coach to Andres Villas Boas at Chelsea and took over as interim manager when AVB was sacked. He led Chelsea to winning the Champions League and won the title with them as well. The following season he only lasted until November before being sacked. If I remember correctly they were still doing well in the league but it was in the CL that they were struggling to find form.
2 years later he joined Schalke but only lasted 33 games. He did well but not well enough unfortunately.

Paolo Di Canio - a bit of an outside option, he has previously stated he would welcome the opportunity to manage Celtic. He is a bit too bonkers perhaps but he has a good win record, albeit at a lower league club before moving to Sunderland. He was only in charge of Southampton for 13 games and only averaged 0.92 points per game.
 
Those were the better known names/British managers. There are however a few alternatives that aren't such well known names but if we could get them, could be VERY good appointments!

Lucien Favre, 58 year old Swiss manager. Started off in Switzerland, his first notable job was as manager of FC Zurich where he spent 4 years, winning 2 leagues and 2 cups. He then became manager of Hertha Berlin and was there for just over 2 years, 18 months later in February 2011 he became manager of Borussia Munchengladbach and only left them in September of last year after a very poor start to the season. He had however lost a number of his top players, having built up a good Champions League team!
FourFourTwo.com last summer made a list of the top 50 managers. This guy was 17th on the list! Based on his previous employers, he wouldn't necessarily be too big for us to get though! It would just depend whether he'd want to come to Scotland or not.
From the website, they said:
"his flexibility and tactical adaptability is what makes the 57-year-old truly stand out.
Favre's men secured an automatic Champions League spot last season, with his tactical variation that teaches players to feel comfortable in different systems having helped him win against the Bundesliga’s top sides. Like Pep Guardiola, Favre is meticulous and detailed. Where he differs is in his preference for counter-attacking football, prioritising defence. But that doesn’t mean his side doesn’t attack and press – and when they do, it’s with speed and precision."
That sounds good for us in Europe, but perhaps not so much in the league where we will have a lot more of the ball and can't really be defensive.

Nuno Espirito Santo - 42 year old Portuguese manager. Started off as a goalkeeping coach at Malaga, then moved to Panathinaikos. His first manager job was back in Portugal with Rio Ave where he spent 2 seasons before taking over at Valencia where he last just over 1 season and was replaced by Gary Neville last November. He's still considered one of the best young managers in Europe but like Deila, was perhaps given too big a job too soon in his career. Celtic may be a better learning platform for him. He may feel he's ready for another bigger club or in a better league but he's young and if he's hungry, he may want the challenge of Celtic!

Julen Lopetegui - 49 year old Spanish manager. Started off as an assistant coach at Rayo Vallecano and then had 6 months in charge. He then must have gone into scouting as 3 years later he became manager of the Real Madrid Scouting Department where he spent 2 years before taking over their B team for a year. After a year out he became Spain U19 and U20 manager where he won an U19 championship and an U20 championship. He was in charge of the U19s for 3 years, the U20s for 4 years and 2 years in he also took charge of the U21 national team as well and was in charge for 2 years. He then left in 2014 to take over at FC Porto where he lasted 18 months. While still having a good record, they went through a bad spell and were second best to Benfica and failed to get through the CL group stages after losing to Chelsea in the final group game.
Win - 74%
Draw - 15.4%
Lose - 10.6%
We may not be good enough or big enough to lure someone with his experience but we should at least try!

Another option that has just come up is Paul Clement. He has just been axed by Derby County having only taken over in the summer. Derby was his first managerial appointment but he has worked as an assistant to Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea, PSG and Real Madrid while he also had a spell as Steve Kean's assistant at Blackburn. He started off coaching Fulham's U18s and also worked with the Ireland U21s and Chelsea U21s.

The final option is considered to be the 30th best manager in the world according to FourFourTwo.com. 43 year old Jocelyn Gourvennec is currently managing EA Guingamp in the French Ligue 1.
Here's what FourFourTwo said:
"After leading Guingamp from France’s semi-professional third tier to Ligue 1 in the space of three seasons, having taken over at the Stade du Roudourou back in 2010, Gourvennec has spent his last two campaigns working miracles keeping the tiny Breton outfit in the top flight.
Despite a lack of funds and quality players, the 43-year-old has managed to maintain Guingamp’s status in Ligue 1 and even inspired them to Coupe de France success in 2014 with a 2-0 win over Brittany rivals Rennes.
Gourvennec also steered his modest side to the semi-finals of the 2015 edition, chasing what would have been the club’s third title in six years. On top of that, Guingamp also made it out of their Europa League group last term and bettered their 2013/14 Ligue 1 finish of 16th by six places, ending in 10th.
Gourvennec is the closest thing France has to popular German Jürgen Klopp, and the Frenchman is now searching for his own Borussia Dortmund project to propel him to the wider attentions of Europe. The Guingamp tactician has already confirmed that he’ll be staying for one more season before finally moving on. He’ll be in demand."
 
I'd take Alex Neill! I think Norwich and a lot of other clubs can probably see his ability though, even if they get relegated, I think his reputation will remain pretty high!

I think I'd take Rodgers too....but not sure he'd come here. Apparently he's had 5 job offers since leaving Liverpool.....

I think the way the board are going, the Frenchman at EA Guingamp would be the preferred choice from my list. The rest may want too much money available for the squad or to be paid themselves.
 
Rodgers was in an unwinnable situation. He built a team around Suarez and then the club had to jettison the biter. Then everything fell apart.

Moyes is the best bet. Not sure he would come here as a move from Man U to Celtic isn't great for the resume, but maybe it's a good way for him to get on track since Sociedad was a failure. He has a connection to the club. I'd welcome him and would certainly be interested in Michael O'Neill.

Stubbs is interesting and knowing the board, they wold roll the dice on him. I need to research him more.

I would not count out a return from Lenny. His move to Bolton has been a disaster in every way. He could come back home.
 
Stubbs was a good defender in his day. Maybe he could team our CBs how to defending a set piece.
 
I just don't think Lennon would be ready to come back yet. Not that he'll want to stay at Bolton much longer unless the financial situation improves, but I think he'll hope to try his hand down in England a bit more. I'm also a lot less keen on him since I heard about his off-field crap with his mistress!

Stubbs is doing a good job but I fear it would be too soon for him to take over at Celtic.

Moyes would be good but like you, I'm not sure he'll be ready to join us quite yet. He has said that one day he'd like to though.

The board will once again heavily restrict the budgets etc. so they will want someone who can work well within that. From that point of view I think the Frenchman Jocelyn Gourvennec is the best we could really hope for.


It also appears as though we're set to tie up a deal to sign the Norwegian kid, Kristoffer Ajer this summer. Fee is believed to be around £800k.
 
Tim Cahill's contract at Shanghai Greenland has been terminated. He has only been there for 1 year. He's 36 now, would anyone take him? Could be a quality addition and certainly experienced and could teach our kids a thing or 2......
 
So Forrest has turned down a new contract......he was offered a new 4 year deal and given a decent/fair wage offer. He has turned it down as he wants to wait and see what other options might be available. His contract expires in the summer of 2017 (some suggest summer 2016), so we may look to cash in on him this summer if we can!

I don't think too many fans will be too bothered about him leaving to be honest. He spent a lot of his time injured, this year has been better and he's shown glimpses of being back to his best but he's just not been consistent. From his point of view, leaving might be the best option to progress and finally reach his potential! It's sad to hear and see a player getting through the ranks at the club but then wanting to leave though. We struggle to get players through the youth team a lot of the time and to get on through only to see him leave is really disappointing.

However it brings us on to a big talking point of the last week, John Collins and Deila both admitting that there will be a clear-out of players this summer, particularly in midfield where we now have too many especially with Ajer joining in the summer and Henderson coming back. Deila also suggested he would cut any "lazy" players.

So who could be going:
Forrest - unsure when his contract is up, some suggest this summer, other's suggest summer 2017. Might still get a training fee for him.
Mulgrew - free, contract up in summer
Boerrigter - about fucking time!
Bitton? - may be sold if we get a £10m+ offer
Johansen? - not had the best season but still contributed with 7 assists (joint 2nd highest) and Deila likes his effort
Joe Thomson? - promising young player but not had much of a look-in since Deila came in. Plays in our overloaded CAM position but can play out wide or in CM as well. He's made 1 sub appearance for us this season. He's still only 19 so maybe a loan spell still in him before he goes.
Michael Duffy? - the 21 year old Northern Irishman joined us a year ago but has yet to make a single appearance and has been out on loan at Alloa this season, making 27 appearances but no goals or assists so far.....another loan spell with a better team next season might be best for him and then he can be evaluated further. He won't get into our team next season though, that's for sure. In fairness to him, Alloa are bottom of the table, heading for relegation so that explains a lot.
Stokes? - out on loan, seems to be considered more as a winger but really he's been one of our best strikers and we'd be daft not to have him as our main back-up striker behind Griffiths. I know Stokes might not be too keen about that but it would be best for us.
McGregor? - Would need to be bought but there may be interest after some good performances, including in the Europa League. His driving while drunk misdemeanor hasn't helped him but I doubt that would stop interested clubs.
Scepovic? - will likely be sold for less than we paid. Has no future here.
Ciftci - been told he has a future at Celtic but needs to get his act together in Turkey and start performing or he'll have no chance here either!
Fisher - Contract is up this summer and with Saidy Janko looking to be ahead of him in the pecking order, he'll likely go but he's a decent young RB who was unfortunate not to get more game time for us. He should go to a good Scottish team. Maybe Hibs if they feel they need a new, younger RB or St Johnstone might want to sign him permanently. I think we'd be due a training fee though.
Stuart Findlay - 20 year old Scottish CB/LB (LB at a push, he's not got the pace) on loan at Kilmarnock this season but from what I've seen, he's done rather well! Would be good to see him get a new contract as it expires this summer but he'll need to go out on loan again next season. Another stint at Kilmarnock wouldn't be bad for him but other, better clubs might be interested too.
There will be other youngsters set to go too, some with expiring contracts who've been out on loan.
 
So that will be at least 6 players leaving from the first team by my reckoning. If Bitton were to be sold though, I think we might need to bring in someone else for CM. We don't know how well or how quickly Ajer will settle or at what level he will be at. If we want any chance in Europe, Bitton would need to be replaced with another quality player.

Other than that, I don't see much happening in the summer transfer wise. What other positions would we need? Ideally I think most fans would get rid of Boyata and Ambrose and we sign another CB or 2 but that's probably not likely to happen.
 
Forrest will be gone. Mulgrew will go. I thought McGregor was headed packing but I read somewhere the Deila likes him. I'd rather see Rogic, Allan or Christie on the pitch than McGregor. He still may go.

I think they are hoping that Stokes scores a lot of goals for Hibs so they can sell him for more money. But he's gone. Efe is gone. I can't see Cole staying, either.
 
Cole might get an offer from China......in fact if Chinese clubs are coming in for Scottish clubs' players then we could lose a few to China! Osman Sow went to China and they've been linked with Kane Hemmings of Dundee as well. I think McGowan from Dundee Utd has gone there as well.

I've mentioned this before about Allan but I don't like him in the No.10 spot and I don't think Christie is quite suited to it either. We might get away with it in Scotland but we won't in Europe!
There have been discussions in the media about the No.10 spot in the past week or so, who should be Celtic's creative midfielder?
Based purely on stats so far this season, it's Kris Commons. He leads the assists charts and he's one of our top scorers. It pains me to say it because I think he's had it and is a passenger in games most of the time but he does come up with moments of magic!
Johansen is second to Commons, it may surprise a few but its true!
Rogic, McGregor and Allan all have 5 assists. Rogic has 7 goals, McGregor has 4 and Allan has none. Allan is older than both of them but it could be argued that Rogic and McGregor both look better than him in the No.10 position despite being younger. Appearances (including off the bench), Rogic has made 29, McGregor 23 and Allan only 15.
I think this shows my point. If Allan were playing in behind two strikers, I'd maybe go with him all day long, an assist in every 3 appearances made is not bad going considering how long he's been on the pitch. But his lack of goals means that in this particular formation, he's not suited! The No.10 not only needs to be able to create goals but score them as well!
 
It is clearly Rogic. I think he is quite good at it, for the most part. GMS is not bad there. He has pace and works very hard and has pumped in a few goals. Patrick Robert could try it, too. He's young but has the class.

We all love Commons, but I think the sun is setting.
 
So, it has come to light that CKR was our second choice.....or last remaining option perhaps! We had been all set to sign Kim Shin-Wook; yes that is the same player I identified about 2 years ago! However even though a contract and fee was agreed with his club, he apparently didn't meet the requirements for a work VISA.
The club seriously need to start listening to me on signings because clearly I'm way ahead of our scouting team and management! :p

News reports suggested Rogic was set to also reject a new contract and leave the club however the player himself has rejected that and said he wants to stay and they're just waiting on agreeing the contract.

Izaguirre is the other player being linked with a move away. Now that he has fallen down the pecking order behind Tierney, it's been suggested he will leave the club in search for more regular first team football. He's been linked with a move to Spain and also now to the MLS in America.
That would leave us requiring a new LB as back-up to Tierney......the player mentioned is West Ham's Scottish LB Stephen Hendrie who we were linked with before he left Hamilton. He joined West Ham in July 2015 but so far has made the bench without actually making an appearance for them. I personally think we'd be better with a more experienced LB or even more preferably someone who can play CB or LB. Signing Hendrie (probably on loan) would leave us with 2 very inexperienced LBs.
 
A backup left back is the least of our worries. We need one, but we need a forward badly.

Is there a chance we can still sign Kim if the club has more time to get visa issues ironed out.
 
We need players to start playing better! I would agree we need a good back-up to Griffiths but I think we already have it in Stokes! I saw the highlights of the Hibs game against ICT and he was playing well as a striker. He looked confident again! If you needed to rest Griffiths or if he got injured, pair Stokes with CKR and I think you could get success. Like it or not CKR has a contract for a couple of years so he's going to be around next year. I think he and Stokes will be back-up but they'd be better together and Carlton Cole will be gone.

We will need a back-up LB to Tierney if Izzy goes.

Probably no chance of signing Kim now. He would need to play a number of international games to qualify and that's not likely at the moment, I don't know what South Korea have lined up in terms of matches but I think it's a goner. Besides he moved to another club.
 
So.....Neil Lennon has left Bolton "by mutual consent"........coud he return already? Or is it too soon?
 
They won't make a move, not with so much on the line. This is a conservative board and won't want to risk upsetting the team in a close title race. If we fall behind in points on even matches played, ronny could be fired. Also, I think they would rather have Moyes.

There may be some bad blood with Lennon. He also did not do himself any favors with the threats to his former girlfriend in Bolton. The only reason I think the board would consider it is because they have a penchant for populist moves and Lennon has the love of the support.
 
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