Ange Postecoglou is reportedly distancing himself from the thought of returning to Celtic for a second spell as manager.
Celtic delivered the bombshell news that Brendan Rodgers had handed in his resignation late on Monday night.
It got here after a desperately disappointing begin to the season for the Bhoys, who find themselves eight points off top spot within the Scottish Premiership after nine games.
A limp 3-1 defeat by the hands of league leaders Hearts proved to be Rodgers’ final match in charge, with Martin O’Neill taking on the reins on an interim basis – twenty years after leaving the club.
In an explosive statement, Celtic’s majority shareholder, Dermot Desmond, condemned Rodgers’ conduct amid a contract dispute within the months leading as much as his departure, calling the Northern Irishman ‘divisive, misleading and self-serving’.
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The Scottish champions must quickly move on in the event that they are to search out stability and forestall their season from unravelling, though, and fans have been reassured that the seek for Rodgers’ everlasting successor is up and running.
A number of high-profile names have been linked within the intervening hours, including the likes of Kieran McKenna, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Kjetil Knutsen, Michael Carrick and Robbie Keane.
Postecoglou, who led Celtic to back-to-back league titles between 2021 and 2023, had emerged because the early bookmakers’ favourite to tackle the baton from O’Neill and his interim assistant Shaun Maloney.
But in accordance with talkSPORT, sources near Postecoglou have ‘downplayed’ the prospect of the Australian returning to Celtic Park for a second bite on the cherry.
Given Postecoglou was unceremoniously sacked by Nottingham Forest just ten days ago, he might be forgiven for wanting a while away from the pressures of elite-level management for the foreseeable future.
Postecoglou’s wretched experience on the City Ground was dropped at an end after just 39 days, with the 60-year-old failing to choose up a single win from his eight games on the helm.
His reign as a Premier League head coach with Forest is the second-shortest within the competition’s 33-year history.
The previous Tottenham boss, who steered Spurs to Europa League glory last season, is yet to reveal any details of his plans since his dismissal at Forest.
The report claims Ipswich Town head coach Kieran McKenna, who shares an in depth relationship Celtic CEO Mark Ashton, is viewed as a serious candidate for the Parkhead job.
Interim manager O’Neill is claimed to an admirer of his fellow countryman McKenna and has given his seal of approval to Celtic’s majority shareholder Dermot Desmond.
‘Celtic are searching for, I might have assumed, a young coach coming in now who has a proven ability and could be wanting to tug the club forward now from their position because it stands,’ O’Neill told talkSPORT.
‘That’s how I might view it and I suppose if I used to be a Celtic fan, I might absolutely see it.’
O’Neill, who previously managed Celtic within the early 2000s, admitted he needed to ‘pull himself off the ground’ when he received the offer to return following Rodgers’ exit.
‘I took a puff of breath and thought, is that this real or surreal?’ he explained.
‘It’s difficult really to show down someone who gave you the job in the primary place when he had really some great options a way back 25 years ago.
‘So from that viewpoint, perhaps by the point that I pulled myself off the ground, I probably thought then perhaps I should do it.
‘I feel they were probably stunned by the news that Brendan left and as a consequence, they perhaps is likely to be obviously looking for a everlasting manager.’
All eyes might be on Celtic Park on Wednesday night when the champions return to Scottish Premiership motion against sixth-place Falkirk.
After back-to-back league defeats, O’Neill will little doubt be eager to deliver a morale-boosting win to maintain the pressure on top-of-the-table Hearts.
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