The Candidates to Replace Neil Lennon at Celtic

Neil Lennon hasn't been sacked by Celtic. But it surely can't be far away.

Thursday's 4-1 hammering in Prague sent them packing from the Europa League, and means Lennon now has a poorer record in his last nine matches than Tony Mowbray or John Barnes did prior to their respective sackings. Things are really, really not good over at Celtic Park.

They will have to act promptly if they are to stand any chance of salvaging ten-in-a-row, but there are plenty of managers out there who could get it over the line.

You just have to sift through all the ones who couldn't to find them.

Here, we've put together a very mixed bag of realistic potential candidates.

1. Shaun Maloney

For fans in Scotland, one of the most bizarre aspects of recent international football has been seeing Shaun Maloney on the Belgium coaching team.

The diminutive Scot, who came through the ranks at Parkhead and made his name with the Hoops and later Wigan, has stumbled into a highly promising coaching career. Belgium boss Roberto Martinez sees a big future for him in management - he's previously described him as having an 'elite' coaching brain.

He won five league titles with Celtic as a player too, so knows what that's all about. Surely this one is at least worth asking the question.

2. John Kennedy

If and when Lennon departs, the reins will almost certainly be handed to assistant John Kennedy to take over in the interim. And given what's at stake, should he hit the ground running, they may just opt to keep things as they are and avoid any further turbulence.

It wouldn't be the most inspiring but it's what the 37-year-old is aiming for - he has made no secret of that in the past.

“It would be a dream job, yes. Particularly, when I think of where I started out as a young boy," the former Parkhead defender told the Daily Record in the summer. “Celtic was the team I supported and from the minute I first became involved at the club as a young boy I wanted to reach the top.

“So, of course, it would be the dream job."

3. Marco Silva

It's been around a year since Marco Silva was sacked by Everton following that 5-2 defeat to Liverpool. What a bloody long year it's been.

A highly promising, fairly young manager whose career has stalled as the result of one bad season, Silva is in a similar mould to Brendan Rodgers before he took the Celtic job - albeit with substantially less pedigree at an elite level.

He's won plenty, too. He won the Segunda Liga with Estoril, Taca de Portugal with Sporting CP and the Greek Super League with Olympiacos before heading to England, where he did great work with Hull and Watford, prior to that ill-fated stint on Merseyside.

There's no reason why Celtic couldn't make this happen if they wanted it.

4. Henrik Larsson

This has been discussed previously, but having only coached in the Swedish Allsvenskan to minimal success, the Celtic job was seen as a step too far - even for one of the most iconic figures in the club's history.

Since the job was last available, however, King Henrik has taken huge strides forward.The 49-year-old is part of Ronald Koeman's first-team set-up at Barcelona, so it's not clear if he would even be available.

Let's be honest, though. If the job opens up, it will catch his eye. Were it to come off, the scenes in Glasgow would rival the pandemonium that followed David Marshall's save against Serbia.

And the joy would last right up until he loses to Hamilton Accies on his debut.

5. Jack Ross

The wider audience may know Ross as the co-star of Sunderland Til I Die season two, in which he tries unsuccessfully to talk Stewart Donald out of pissing millions up the wall on Will Grigg.

That's a very small part of the story, however. Sunderland aside, Ross' career has been on a neckbreaking upwards trajectory. After a strong start to life with Alloa Athletic, he took over a St Mirren team floundering at the foot of the Scottish Championship, and had them promoted to the top flight within 18 months.

Since leaving English football behind, he has picked up directly where he left off with Hibs, who sit fourth in the Premiership as things stand, and have been mooted by Steven Gerrard as one of four challengers to the title.

I mean, they're 15 points behind Rangers after 15 games, but we can dream.

6. Eddie Howe

The former Bournemouth boss has been the obvious choice since day one but to be honest, it doesn't seem like the best fit.

Bournemouth was a slow-burner. He was allowed the time and patience to build the club up from the ground, culminating in a point where even relegation wasn't enough to lose him his job outright - he could still be there now if he wanted to be.

Compare that to the immense pressure of expectation at Celtic, where short-term success is the be-all and end-all and one bad result can turn the supporters on you in a flash, and the jobs couldn't really be more different.

But hey, maybe something completely new is what he's after. Perhaps the Celtic board will buy into a long-term project after a year-and-a-half of Lennon's reactionary management cutting them off at the knees. Who knows?

7. Martin O'Neill

Lennon's former manager and countryman has been one of his most ardent defenders in recent weeks, insisting the incumbent boss deserves all the time in the world for his contributions to the club.

Secretly, however, he must have some idea of where it's going wrong. The former Sunderland and Aston Villa boss enjoyed the best spell of his managerial career at Parkhead, winning three league titles and writing himself into the history books as one of the best coaches in their recent history.

He's been out of work since leaving Nottingham Forest in June 2019, and is thought to be waiting for the right opportunity to dive back in. Who better to get a tune out of the team in the short-term?

8. Neil Lennon (interim)

"Celtic FC regrets to inform that manager Neil Lennon has left the club by mutual consent. The club would like to place on record its thanks to Neil for his service over the past two seasons.

"While the search for a new permanent manager is ongoing, Neil Lennon will take over the first team on an interim basis.

"We wish Neil all the best in his future endeavours."