Celtic FC unveil Sir Kevin Wallace as their new manager.
Celtic Football Club have formally unveiled their new
manager this morning…Sir Kevin Wallace joins the Hoops after spells at
Marseille, Boca Juniors and West Bromwich Albion. The new manager joins on a
three year contract and it is the hope of the club that this appointment will
allow continued growth for the club following on from the very successful period
under the previous manager who left the club for pastures new following
delivery of the Division 4 title.
Sir Kevin issued a statement to the media at the press
conference:
‘It is an honour and a privilege to follow Ruts as manager
of Glasgow Celtic, this club is steeped in tradition and Ruts took it to a new
level in his time here, they are big boots to fill and I hope to continue his
work in taking Celtic to future success. Having looked at the squad there is
little need for a major overhaul, the players here are all capable of
performing in Division three and I very quickly realised that the foundations
need little attention. I did discuss one aspect with the chairman which was the
lack of home grown Scottish players and we have moved quickly to add a few
Scots lads to the wider squad, I am especially delighted to bring Leigh
Griffiths to the club. Leigh has huge potential to be a real asset to the club
going forward and the fact he was being kept captive in a cupboard at Ibrox it
was a no brainer to pay his ransom and set him free.
We will use the friendlies before the new season starts for
me to get to know the lads, results don’t really matter as much as finding out
what does and doesn’t work and then have a plan in place for day one of the new
season. That process started last night against AC Milan and will continue
right up till the new seasons first games.
Taking a Division Five team last season to a Cup Semi-Final
was probably what got me noticed by the board here, teams in the bottom
division aren’t meant to reach semi-finals far less dispatch teams like
Dortmund and Liverpool along the way and then just miss out to Juventus in the
semi, I’m proud of the rebuilding job I did at West Brom and I look forward to
working with my new squad to bring success to Celtic Park in the years ahead’
Following questions from the media Sir Kevin was asked about
the comments made following last night’s friendly with AC Milan by Sir Stephen
Beddows the Milan manager in which he claimed Sir Kevin had prior connections
with Celtic and would be a disastrous appointment because of it.
‘Last night’s game was a friendly, a work out, a getting to
know each other exercise for me and the players, the result means nothing to
anyone as long as we all learned something. With regard to the comments in the
media from that Beddows fella, well for a start I’ve only ever supported two
teams in my life as a fan, neither of which was Celtic so I’ve no idea where he
gets the fan becoming manager stuff from…listen I don’t really get into the
personal stuff but I would point out that it takes a massive talent to take a
club with the resources and world class players of Milan and get them relegated…how
many times now? I’d say to the Beddows fella that I’ll do my job here and I’d
suggest he focusses on his job in Milan, there should be enough going on there
for him without involving others’
And with a smile and a wink Sir Kevin left the press
conference…headlines written…
Good luck, Kev - the club is in good hands, no doubt, and I'll be keeping an eye on your progress once I'm back from gardening leave...
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