Shaun Maloney’s ‘Great Ideas’ Earn Glowing Report From New SPFL Boss as Celtic Coach Lauded

Glenn Whelan has credited Celtic hero Shaun Maloney with providing “great ideas” as a coach to inspire his management journey.

The retired Republic of Ireland midfielder was appointed manager of SPFL Championship outfit Livingston earlier this summer as he takes his first steps into becoming a head coach in his own right.

Whelan, 42, worked closely with Celtic first-team coach Maloney during the pair’s time at Wigan Athletic where the latter had taken the role back in 2023. They spent two years together with Whelan acting within the backroom staff.

And the ex-Hearts player insists he always knew the Hoops legend had strong thoughts on the game and ideas he now knows he can potentially implement at Almondvale to try and gain promotion at the first time of asking.

“Shaun was great for me, bring­ing me in. Obvi­ously, with him­self work­ing with Roberto Mar­tinez, com­ing out of Bel­gium, he had loads of great ideas,” Whelan said.

“It was great just to have the con­ver­sa­tions more so about how we see foot­ball. The Wigan exper­i­ence, like any­thing, you take the best out of it and hope­fully improve. The end­ing was not good, how it ended, but it’s foot­ball. It’s the industry that we’re in.

“For me, I played until I was late into my thirties, and now I’m on the coach­ing lad­der.

“I’m look­ing to try and get as high as I can in this format. Now I need to come in and try and prove myself, first and fore­most to the fans at Liv­ing­ston and get a tune out of the boys.”

Whelan’s revelations will perhaps not come as any sort of shock to Celtic fans who watched Maloney flourish last season in Glasgow. And despite the delay in bringing Maloney back to the club, there is optimism over the correct decision made to do so.

Working alongside Martin O’Neill has clearly worked wonders for the 43-year-old who appears comfortable under the bright lights and intense scrutiny at Parkhead.

Maloney also appears to be a popular figure, alongside Mark Fotheringham, with the current crop of Hoops stars who won the league and cup Double last season under the coaching trio.

The long-term plan within the boardroom at Celtic Park may still be to have Maloney take over as manager down the line and if he can cut his teeth with the Scottish Premiership champions and succeed, there’s little reason to doubt his credentials in the future.

If Whelan’s comments are to go by, Maloney already has a tactical mind that lends itself to success.