Sky Sports pundit and former Hoops star Alan McInally has played down reports that former Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder is a candidate for the Celtic job.
The 53-year-old is currently favourite for the post at some bookmakers but McInally believes he would much prefer to stay in England, naming three clubs he could potentially manage in the Premier League:
“I do think the likes of Burnley or Newcastle or Crystal Palace will definitely be interested in Chris Wilder, absolutely definitely if the circumstances arose that the job became available. The Celtic job, make no bones about it, is a bigger job than any other club I just talked about, it really is, it is a huge job.”
“Will they take a chance on someone that doesn’t really know anything about Scottish football particularly and certainly with no genuine real attachment to the football club? I’m not sure, I’m genuinely not sure, not that you need an attachment to the football club to be the manager of it. But I can see Chris probably wanting to stay south of the border and still have the opportunity next season to be a manager.”
Wilder doesn’t really seem like a good fit for a number of reasons. As McInally points out, he doesn’t have any prior connection to the club so, in that sense, he wouldn’t have the fans onside from day one.
On top of that, he isn’t a bright, up and coming young manager with fresh new ideas, which many supporters are clamouring for after witnessing the limited tactical systems deployed by previous manager Neil Lennon.
At the moment, there is no indication what type of manager the Celtic board are looking for, but it is hard to believe that Wilder would be top of the list of candidates.
