'Shameful' Celtic accused of Hearts neglect as 126-goal ex-EPL star tipped for Parkhead role
Celtic have been slammed for approach to the season.
Celtic have ‘dragged down’ the standard of the Scottish Premiership and shown a lack of respect to the club's supporters with their attitude towards the season, according to former Scotland international Don Hutchison.
Head coach Wilfried Nancy has endured a shocking start to his reign at Parkhead, becoming the first manager to lose all three of his opening games, including a humbling 3-1 defeat to St Mirren in the Premier Sports Cup final at Hampden on Sunday. At the same time, they have fallen six points behind Hearts in the race for the title.
Hutchison, who earned 26 caps for Scotland and famously scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over England at Wembley in 1999, believes the finger of blame for Celtic’s poor form needs to be pointed at the club’s board member, who he has slammed as neglectful.
“Right now, the standard of Scottish football is terrible,” blasted Hutchison. “This is the reason why I think Celtic fans are having a pop at their board. It's almost like the Celtic board just thought, right, as long as we finish above Rangers, we'll win the league. That's been their mentality forever.
“Rangers are going through a terrible spate of form, managers, and signings. The club's at an all-time low, and they forgot about Hearts, who are now sitting top. For Celtic, that's a terrible outlook to have, and it's pretty shameful to have that outlook.
“It's quite disrespectful to the Celtic fans, thinking we don't really need to spend, we haven't got to spend loads of money on top-class players because we'll just finish above our rivals. That drags Celtic down; it drags Rangers down. I hope that Hearts win the league and put both of them to shame this season.
While Hutchison believes the current champions' poor form is not solely down to the Frenchman, he thinks the club should look to one of their former striking heroes if they are to replace him if things don’t improve on the pitch in the coming weeks.
“He's got some job to turn it around, because he's got to convince the Celtic fans that he's the man,” said Hutchison. “It feels exactly like Russell Martin at Rangers. I don't think it's even his fault at this point because I'm not sure who can turn up and do that job. You kind of almost shouldn't take it unless you take it in January.
“But again, the feel-good factor under Martin O' Neill was there. Why wouldn't you leave him in the job for the [Premier Sports Cup] final and let him go out on a high anyway? I know he’s a legend anyway, but it doesn’t make sense. It would have been brilliant for Martin.
“I think Robbie Keane gave a great interview after the Rangers game [vs Ferencvaros], in his post-game press conference. He said, Look, I am at a big club, I'm winning trophies, I'm at a huge club. He sort of dismissed the idea of moving on. But I think having played for Celtic, it would be a major test if Celtic came calling for him.
Keane, who scored 126 English Premier League goals during his playing career and spent six month on loan at Celtic, was named as a potential replacement for Brendan Rodgers earlier this season after a strong start to life at Hungarian giants Ferencvaros.
“He's willing to learn his trade,” Hutchison told oddsboom.co.uk. “He's been abroad twice before. I think it would be a huge pull for him. I think if push came to shove, and I don't know Robbie at all, but I think he'd leave Ferencvaros and take the Celtic job. I think that could possibly happen.”
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