Desmond\u2019s explosive attack on Rodgers<\/a> left no doubt over how he felt about the 52-year-old\u2019s actions in recent months.<\/p>\n But with Martin O\u2019Neill<\/a> taking care of the team on a temporary basis, the focus is now on the Hoops\u2019 plans for a new appointment. <\/p>\n And Celtic<\/a> hero Chris Sutton<\/a> isn\u2019t convinced about the candidates he\u2019s heard about so far.<\/p>\n Chris Sutton on Celtic candidates to replace Brendan Rodgers<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill has made it public that he has no intention to take the job long-term, but after Wednesday\u2019s 4-0 win against Falkirk,<\/a> some Hoops fans would be happy to see him change his mind.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, the search for Rodgers\u2019<\/a> permanent replacement is fully in motion.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Ange Postecoglou to Celtic question directly addressed by Australian contact<\/a><\/p>\n O\u2019Neill has said that he expects the Hoops to hire a \u2018young, upcoming\u2019 coach in his place, in what would be a change of strategy after recent appointments.<\/p>\n But for Sutton, speaking in his column for the Daily Record,<\/a> there is only one \u2018strong\u2019 candidate apart from the unlikely Ange Postecoglou.<\/a><\/p>\n He said: \u201cLook, change was coming. Brendan was done and we could all see that at Tynecastle last Sunday. The team was abject and had just stopped performing. <\/p>\n \u201cYou can say that was down to the Honda Civic stuff, which I reiterate, he shouldn\u2019t have said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the ending was unedifying and Celtic are now on the hunt. If you\u2019re asking who I\u2019d want to see as the club\u2019s next manager, I\u2019d say Ange Postecoglou. But the truth is I don\u2019t think that will happen as it sounds like he wants a break. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to think the club has asked. I\u2019ve heard the other candidates like everyone else. Some good names in there such as Kieran McKenna, but if it\u2019s not Postecoglou, I have no other strong candidate at the top of my mind.<\/p>\n \u201cFor now, it\u2019s Martin and Shaun and their job is to ensure Celtic are still fighting for the honours by the time the new guy enters the building.\u201d<\/p>\n Celtic manager candidates to replace Brendan Rodgers<\/p>\n Postecoglou was initially seen as the favourite to replace Rodgers, but reports now suggest that a Celtic Park<\/a> return for the Aussie hero is unlikely.<\/p>\n Kieran McKenna<\/a> is currently seen as the frontrunner, and he hasn\u2019t ruled out leaving Ipswich for the Hoops.<\/a> But with the 39-year-old under a long-term lucrative contract, it remains to be seen if Desmond can pull a deal off.<\/p>\n Robbie Keane<\/a> is interested in the role, with the ex-Hoops striker currently in charge at Ferencvaros in Budapest. The Ireland legend\u2019s lack of experience and ties to Israel could cause issues, though.<\/p>\n Kjetil Knutsen,<\/a> Wilfried Nancy<\/a> and Lee Carsley<\/a> have alll also been linked, but it won\u2019t be Craig Bellamy,<\/a> who isn\u2019t available amid his quest to lead Wales to the World Cup<\/a> next summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Celtic are in an unfamiliar position. Dermot Desmond has led manager searches before, but they have very rarely…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[89834,71706,8919,128497,120261,403,99],"class_list":["post-265185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ange-postecoglou","tag-brendan-rodgers","tag-celtic","tag-chris-sutton","tag-kieran-mckenna","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Ex-Celtic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2165623412-scaled-e1730359771210-1024x704.jpg\")
Photo by Lee Parker \u2013 CameraSport via Getty Images<\/p>\n