Former Celtic star Chris Sutton has revealed who he thinks would be a “smart appointment” as the club’s new manager after the shock resignation of Brendan Rodgers.
Rodgers tendered his resignation late on Monday night, a day after Celtic’s galling 3-1 defeat to Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts. Former boss Martin O’Neill will take interim charge at the age of 73, a full 20 years on from his first spell as manager and six years since his last managerial position, assisted by Shaun Maloney.
Hearts are in pole position to shock the Old Firm this season, having opened up an eight-point lead at the top and with both Celtic and Rangers in complete disarray.
The acrimony surrounding Rodgers’s resignation soon exploded with an astonishing statement coming from the Hoops’s principal shareholder, Dermot Desmond, accusing the former manager of “divisive, misleading, and self-serving” behaviour and insisting he had “contributed to a toxic atmosphere” around the club.
Rodgers had been heavily critical of Celtic’s transfer business over the summer and there was further discontent among the club’s supporters following their Champions League play-off defeat to Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan.
And ex-striker Sutton, who is now a well-known pundit, quickly revealed he believes Ange Postecoglou should return to the club where he won five trophies across two seasons from 2021, having been sacked as Nottingham Forest boss earlier this month following a disastrous 39-day spell.
Speaking on Sky Sports News, Sutton said: “I think Ange Postecoglou would be a really smart appointment. He was loved the first time round.
“His brand of football went down well in Glasgow. He’s out of work. I think that would be a pretty obvious choice, a good choice and bring a lot of positivity back to Celtic, which they need right now.”
That came after seemingly sympathising with Rodgers in a post on X (formerly Twitter), where he wrote: “So in the end it was all Brendan’s fault… good luck to Martin O Neill and Shaun Maloney in the short term… bring back big Ange.”
Sutton expanded on that sentiment when talking on Sky Sports News, acknowledging that he saw the break-up coming, given the atmosphere around the club.
“I don’t think it’s a complete shock, this whole situation and Brendan resigning,” added Sutton. “I wrote a column at the weekend and in that column talked about, I think that Brendan with some of the stuff he’s said in the recent past that he wants out of the club.
"There’s clearly been a breakdown with his relationship with the club hierarchy. It all really stems from before the start of the season when Brendan went public and was critical about the lack of quality coming into the club. And I think he felt let down by that.
"Celtic get knocked out of the Champions League qualifier. It’s been a really slow start to the season. They’ve lost quality players in the recent past and haven’t replaced them. And I think he felt he wasn’t backed.”
Sutton was also keen not to absolve the Celtic board of blame for the state they find themselves in, having seemingly squandered the solid foundations built earlier this year.
“Let’s also get it right, the board are not blameless in this whole situation, because Celtic were in a really strong position,” explained Sutton. “When you go back to the earlier part of this year, Celtic played Bayern Munich, nearly knocked Bayern Munich out of the Champions League.
“And the club was on a bit of a high, competing at Champions League level. And then I think that everybody expected the club, albeit losing quality players, to go quite strong in the summer in terms of player recruitment. That didn’t happen.
“The manager, Brendan Rodgers, was unhappy about that and the start of the season has been really woeful. Celtic are in a position where their front line is a shadow of what it once was in the recent past and eight points behind Hearts now at the top of the league. The club’s in a bit of a pickle.”
While Sutton backed Postecoglou as the long-term answer, he also insisted that O’Neill was a sensible choice to stabilise things in the short-term.
“I understand the appointment of Martin O’Neill because he’s a very popular manager,” he added. “He was my manager when I first went up to Celtic, and he is loved by the supporters.
“Had the club handed the role to just Shaun Maloney, I think a lot of the supporters would have been unhappy about that. They’ve now got a figurehead and a front piece.
“His era was the beginning of Celtic’s dominance in Scottish football. He will go in and try and do what he did first time round. Try and galvanise the club, try to bring the support and everybody, the staff at the club and hierarchy all pulling in the same direction.”
‘Divisive’ and ‘toxic’ Brendan Rodgers slammed by Celtic chief after resigning
Celtic chief claims Brendan Rodgers ‘contributed to toxic atmosphere’
What Martin O’Neill said about Rangers and Hearts on same day as returning to Celtic
Brendan Rodgers resigns as Celtic manager with interim replacements revealed
Why Premier League could see reduced Boxing Day schedule
Why Sheffield Wednesday could face further points deductions
