There's very few Ireland fans who would begrudge Roy Keane the opportunity to return to club management with Celtic. Granted, no one will want to see a bit of a circus developing around the Ireland assistant boss before Euro 2016 begins but if it's all cleaned up and sorted with minimal fuss, then Keane will no doubt be sent off with best wishes of everyone involved.
That is of course on the assumption that he's even in the running for the top job at Parkhead. However, with the likes of Craig Gordan and Ronny Deila talking up the possibility of Keane stepping into the breach left by the Norwegian's departure, you wouldn't be stretching your imagination too much to think that the Celtic board are at least exploring the possibility of bringing in Keane.
However, that possibility began to look rather distant on Tuesday when Sky Sports reported that Brendan Rodgers was in talks with Celtic and those famous Sky sources indicated that the club had installed the Co. Antrim man as their 'preferred candidate' to take the top job.
Cue odds being cut and Celtic fans being rather impressed at the quality of manager that the club was looking to bring in. However, today it would seem that either those talks didn't go particularly well or the club is simply further away from appointing a manager than yesterday's indications would suggest.
Celtic have today released a rather pointed statement at the Rodgers report and they've said, in no uncertain terms, that there is no 'preferred' candidate at this moment in time.
Following some speculation regarding the appointment of a new Celtic manager, the facts are as follows:
The club has been and will be speaking to a number of candidates and we will take our time to go through this process thoroughly and in the proper manner. There is no 'preferred' candidate.
We will continue this process with the aim of identifying a new manager who we believe will deliver success to the club.
Clearly we will not be able to provide daily updates on this issue. However, our supporters will be the first to know when a new manager has been appointed.
There's been no definitive statement from Keane as to whether he even wants the job. However, he's made no secret of the fact that he wants to return to club management and if the Celtic job is an option for him, you'd have to think he'd jump at the chance. With that in mind, that statement from the club, is certainly a boost to his hopes following yesterday's reports.
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— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) May 6, 2016
