Eddie Howe confirms he will not become Celtic's new manager, despite a months-long courtship

[ASFN Admin]

One of the longest football courtships on record fell well short of consummation when Eddie Howe confirmed to the Celtic board that he would not be their next manager, as had been widely expected, not least by the Parkhead directors. Howe’s inability to secure the services of his preferred backroom staff was cited as the principal cause, but Celtic insiders also believe that other suitors have begun to woo the 43-year-old. It is a football trope that when a new manager is paraded before the media, he is being ‘unveiled’, like some coy mediaeval virgin before her newly acquired in-laws. By that measure, Howe’s flirtation with the Hoops was more like a dance of the 70 veils, as week succeeded week and then became a passage of many months without the issue reaching a conclusion. Indeed, the former Bournemouth manager, who steered the Cherries from the lower reaches of League 2 to a place in the Premier League for the first time in the club’s history, was touted as favourite to succeed Neil Lennon as long ago as last autumn, when Celtic’s hope of a 10th successive Scottish title began to evaporate. Howe was available, having parted company with Bournemouth last August, after the team had been relegated to the English Championship. When Lennon quit on February 25, there was a flurry of speculation that Howe might arrive in the east end of Glasgow to oversee a last-ditch attempt to stop Rangers’ advance in the Scottish Premiership. Instead, Lennon’s assistant, John Kennedy took charge, but was unable to prevent the title going to Ibrox. Rangers then knocked Celtic out of the Scottish Cup, leaving the Hoops with nothing to play for in what remained of the season, but still there was no evidence of Howe being involved in planning for the overhaul of the playing staff which will be necessary to present a viable challenge next season. By then, it had become an open secret that Howe had made it a condition of acceptance that he would install his former director of football at Bournemouth, Richard Hughes and first team coaches Stephen Purches and Simon Weatherstone, as his backroom staff. It had been understood that they would be left in place as long as Bournemouth were in contention in the Championship play-offs, a factor removed from the equation when the Cherries lost to Brentford last weekend. By that stage, though, the prospect of Howe’s arrival in Glasgow with his support team had been overshadowed in the headlines by the petrol bomb attack on cars parked in the gated driveway of the home of Peter Lawwell, the outgoing Celtic chief executive.

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