The Celtic Thread

I've no doubt he'd do a brilliant job, but I'd be astonished if he were interested.

Everything he does is with a view to the medium-to-long term (eg 8 years with NI).

And he chose Stoke as much as v.v. because of the potential they offered him i.e. fabulously wealthy owners who are genuine supporters and who don't sack managers on a whim.

Unfortunately they completely screwed up their finances and recruitment over the last 3 or 4 years, incl signing loads of duds on long contracts with PL wages and no get-out clause in case of relegation.

One example amongst many is Kevin Wimmer, signed by Spurs in May 2015 for £4.3m from Koln. It quickly became apparent he was crap (15 PL games in two years) before Spurs sold him in Aug 2017 to Stoke for a reported £18m! (Levy should have gone to jail for theft and fraud! )

After 17 games for Stoke, they realised he was crap too, and have since loaned him out to 2nd rate clubs with no money in Europe.

Anyhow, he was signed on a 5 year contract on a reported £37.5k per week. (His agent should also have gone to jail! )

He's just one of a number whom no-one else will sign and Stoke can't even release them on a free, since amortising the transfer loss would completely screw them for FFP. And even if they lend them out until their contract runs down, they're having to subsidise their wages.

Anyhow, having saved Stoke from relegation last season, and putting a bit of shape on them this, Michael should be shot of most of them this summer, which will allow him to go for promotion next season, when they hope to be free of FFP constraints and he may be able to sign the players he wants.

Besides which, he really doesn't want or need all the crap which goes with managing an Old Firm club.

Why didn't he take the Scotland job, when they were nearly doubling his salary?

Why didn't he take other jobs eg WBA?

The man thinks long term. I'd say his ambition is to take Stoke to the Prem, keep them there, then manage maybe one properly "big" club (i.e. not Celtic), before moving upstairs to an Executive role or the Board.

He's already done a University MSc in Sports Directorship to go with his earlier Finance qualifications:

Roberto Baggio wrote: “All the crap that goes with managing an old firm team” Rodgers and Gerrard didn’t have any bother

BR needed a high profile job after getting the push from Liverpool to rehabilitate his career. Which is why he didn't hang about once the job was done.

And SG needed to prove himself in a high profile position for his first job - I daresay Rangers was the best he could get.

Michael doesn't need any of that, he's better off where he is.

Besides, Celtic is a "no-win" job. That is, if you win everything, the reaction is: "So what? It's what you're expected to do." And if you don't win everything, you get binned.

Worse, when I say "everything", I mean domestically. Celtic (or Rangers) will never be a force in the CL; they do well to progress in the EL occasionally, which is no big deal for an ambitious manager.

And all that's before you get to the "crap"...