Former Celt Predicts Parkhead Contract Will be Ripped Up

Former Celtic star Murdo Macleod is concerned about the size of the rebuild on Celtic’s hands this summer and the time it’s taking to get the new management team in place.

Murdo, who was the assistant to Wim Jansen the season Celtic stopped the ten, looks around at the squad and believes the scale of the task ahead can’t be underestimated.

Speaking to SunSport, MacLeod went round the squad and suggested not even Leigh Griffiths will survive the chop and the last year of his deal will be ripped up.

“I look at the number of players who won’t be there next season and it’s a worry. The captain and leader, Scott Brown, will be at Aberdeen.

“I don’t think the club will trigger their option to hand Leigh Griffiths another year after the season he’s just had.

“Kristoffer Ajer, Odsonne Edouard and Ryan Christie are coming to the end of their contracts and look as though they want to move on.

“The loan signings will all go back to their parent clubs and last season’s signings — apart from David Turnbull — should be sold as well. Most of them didn’t play too often anyway, so they’ll want to leave.

“Unfortunately, they won’t be able to sell every player who had a bad season and some of them will hang around.

“But the new manager will have three or four individuals to build his team around — Turnbull, Callum McGregor and James Forrest among them.

“He won’t inherit much more than that.

“Assuming Eddie Howe takes the job, this is going to be a huge test for him.

“In fact, I’d say it’s as big a task as any Celtic manager has ever had just attracting the kind of players he needs.

“When Wim and I took over in 1997, we could offer players the chance to make history by stopping Rangers from doing the ten.

“Plus we signed Henrik Larsson, a genuine superstar who other players wanted to play alongside.

“Paul Lambert had won the Champions League with Dortmund the previous season and his presence also persuaded others to take a chance. That isn’t the case now. Rangers have won their first title and are favourites to win a second.

“Stopping the two doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it? Plus Steven Gerrard already has a quality squad in place.

“He’ll probably want to add no more than two or three to strengthen them, while Celtic will need nine or ten to have a chance of coming back.”

Fans are still awaiting for white smoke as the club chase down the nee manager. Several reports claim the deal is done or as good as done; but we’re yet to see that translate into an official announcement.

Fans are expecting the new man to be Eddie Howe but until it’s announced they will be rightfully concerned.

It’s 11 weeks to Celtic’s next proper competitive tie in the Champions League qualifiers. That’s not a long time to get a new management team in place and a brand new team effectively.

Time is of the essence at this point – will the club finally get moving?

The final two games of the season will see John Kennedy see out his interim role at the club and let’s be honest – he’s another person who shouldn’t be at Celtic next season.

The first team coach and assistant has not covered himself in glory and it’s time for a clean break between John and Celtic.