CLUJ boss and former Chelsea man Dan Petrescu claims he turned down the Celtic job before Ronny Deila got the gig back in 2014.
When Neil Lennon walked off into the sunset, Celtic were looking for their next manager. Roy Keane looked a dead cert to take it but when that fell through and the Irishman turned down the role, the club looked to Ronny in Norway and the rest is history.
According to Petrescu, who was Dynamo Moscow manager at the time – he told an agent he was very interested in the Celtic job and then was offered terms by the club.
He then claims once the terms came to him he thought it wasn’t the right time to go to Scotland.
So to be clear here – Dan is saying he told Celtic he really wanted the job then turned it down.
Speaking to SunSport ahead of the game this evening, the Cluj manager dropped the bombshell.
“I told this agent I was really interested in being Celtic coach. I was at Dinamo Moscow and I know Celtic came with a good offer for me, but unfortunately it was the wrong time for me to take it.
“Was I close to accepting the job? Very close.
“Celtic would have been fantastic for me. It’s a great club. I think everybody in the world would want to coach Celtic. All the coaches.”
The manager seems certain that’s the way things went down. Did Celtic offer the Romanian a deal to take over before Ronny came to the club?
Mind games.