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Whoever replaces Neil Lennon as Celtic’s new manager will have a seismic job on their hands.

Given how terribly this campaign has gone, they will need to rip things up and almost start again. Certainly, with Peter Lawwell also departing in the summer, lots of change will be needed in order to take Celtic back to the top.

A plethora of renowned coaches from within the football world have been linked with the vacancy. Whether it’s Frank Lampard or Roberto Martinez, some eye-catching names are regularly being branded about.

Though, one manager who hasn’t been in the discussion too much is Stoke boss Michael O’Neill. On paper, this might not look like an attractive proposition for Hoops supporters but they’d be foolish to ignore him.

Trevor Sinclair recently spoke about his chances of moving to Glasgow and how a man with his CV could be game-changing in Glasgow. He told talkSPORT (24/02 – 10:30am): “I would look at Michael O’Neill. He’s done a fantastic job with the Northern Ireland national team, he’s done a superb job with Stoke City,” he began.

Sinclair concluded: “(O’Neill) is a David Moyes kind of manager. He knows the game inside out, how to run clubs from top to bottom. You need a manager like that to come in and give the club a shake – and I think that’s what is needed.”

Indeed, despite O’Neill’s win rate of just 39% with Stoke, he has revived them, replicating a similar sort of job that he did with the Northern Irish national side.

When he walked into that job, they were in a desperate place. Northern Ireland were very quickly slipping towards their lowest FIFA ranking and in September 2012, were placed 129th. O’Neill, however, used supreme professionalism and tactical acumen to breathe fresh life into not only the team but also the country as a whole.

Just four years later, they were competing at the European Championships in France. They weren’t just there to make up the numbers either. O’Neill had guided his team from being one of the worst in Europe based on FIFA rankings to reaching the last 16 at the Euros.

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Wales knocked them out, but despite that, O’Neill had brought a country and its fan base together with his pragmatic approach.

In the words of BBC reporter Richard Petrie; “O’Neill’s philosophy of the sum of the parts being more effective than individual star performers built a sense of togetherness and collective team spirit which served a squad with a paucity of Premier League players at its disposal well.”

Petrie continued: “Tactically, his style was pragmatic – always a bespoke game plan in place depending on the opposition – difficult to break down, with pressing and exploiting opportunities to score from set-pieces or on the counter-attack in mind. It was a formation that his squad grew comfortable and familiar with and yielded positive results.”

For a side like Celtic, so in need of being revived, this could be ideal. You only need to look at what he’s done for Stoke too.

The Potters were sitting rock bottom of the English Championship when the 51-year-old took over in September 2019. He subsequently guided them to a finish of 15th last term. This season, meanwhile, they are now sitting in 11th position with an outside chance of reaching the playoffs.

He has engineered successful revivals in two successive jobs now. With that in mind, O’Neill seems like the ideal man for a crisis. Celtic could benefit ten-fold from his arrival at Parkhead.

AND in other news, Forget Harper: Kennedy should unleash 18 y/o gem never-seen in the Celtic first-team…

Newcastle United reportedly face competition from other clubs in the Premier League to sign Jan Kuchta, according to Football Insider.

As per the news outlet, the St. James’ Park faithful as well as West Ham United, Southampton and Brighton and Hove Albion watched the Slavia Prague ace in their 1-1 draw at home to Rangers in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday evening.

Newcastle should sign Kuchta

The North East club should be looking to sign Kuchta in the summer transfer window and thus beat off all competition from their rivals for his signature.

The 24-year-old has no fewer than 20 goal contributions already so far in the 2020/21 term, with 13 goals and a further seven assists in total in just 25 games over all competitions (Transfermarkt).

With a six-foot frame as well, he should have no problems adapting to the physical demands of the top flight, and can take immense encouragement from just how well both Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal have done at the Hammers having come from the same club as him.

Nonetheless, Kuchta is certainly a striker that the Tyneside club should be keeping an eye on, as he is more than capable of easing off the goal scoring burden off of Callum Wilson.

In other news, find out whose display against Aston Villa was slammed by Lee Ryder here!

Former referee Keith Hackett has described Marcelo Bielsa’s act of sportsmanship against Aston Villa as ‘absolutely remarkable’.

Bielsa has been an incredible manager for Leeds United, becoming a true hero to the fans and guiding the Whites back into the Premier League.

He has great respect from other managers around him and he has been the catalyst for arguably the best period in Leeds’ recent history.

Back in 2018/19, Bielsa’s sporting side came to the fore as Leeds came up against Aston Villa in a crucial Championship clash. The Whites manager allowed Villa to walk the ball into net after his team had unfairly scored at the other end, earning him the FIFA Fair Play award in 2019.

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Hackett hails Bielsa’s sportsmanship

One ex-referee who was clearly impressed by Bielsa’s decision was Hackett, who recently told MOT Leeds News all about his respect for the Argentine:

“I thought it was absolutely remarkable. We had Arsenal v Sheffield United in the FA Cup if you remember, when there was a player injured and play went on. Eventually, they replayed that game thanks to Arsene Wenger.

“I thought it was a magnanimous act that really shows the passion of Bielsa, a passion for fairness. I think they gave Paolo Di Canio an award for what he did and it was good that Leeds were given the same recognition by FIFA.

“It could have developed into a really difficult scenario for the referee. The players were unhappy and I think he probably prevented an escalation of the problem.

“It was an act that was good for the game. I think the referee made a mistake in that game and should have found a reason to stop it. You’ve got to apply common sense.”

Transfer Tavern take

It was an amazing moment which summed up why Bielsa is loved by so many, with his human side coming through rather than just the football obsessive.

Other managers could easily have said “tough luck” to the opposition, but the Leeds boss showed with this gesture that he is a classy individual, as Hackett has suggested, and it earned him immediate respect in the English game.

In other news, a pundit believes this is a huge few months for one Leeds player – find out who it is here.

When Aston Villa signed Scott Hogan for a then Championship record of £15m in January 2017, the club would no doubt have expected the striker to deliver on his money’s worth.

Speaking after his signing, then Villa boss Steve Bruce declared: “He has got that hunger in his belly. He’ll give us something that’s been lacking.”

Sadly for Hogan and the club, he was nothing short of a disaster in his time at Villa Park. In total, he managed just ten goals in 61 games, whilst he spent the previous couple of campaigns on loan at Sheffield United, Stoke and then rivals Birmingham.

After getting into a bit of form for the Blues – he bagged seven goals in 17 games last season – the club decided to make his loan move from Villa into something more permanent.

And if Villa have been watching Hogan’s season thus far, then they will be absolutely laughing all the way to the bank.

The 28-year-old has struggled immensely to rediscover the kind of form that convinced Birmingham to

bring him in last summer, managing a measly two goals in 16 games in all competitions.

That hasn’t been down to him making substitute appearances either, with 14 of those matches actually seeing him start from the off. He’s averaged less than a shot per game this campaign in the Championship, evidence of a striker who is woefully out of form and can’t find himself in the positions to test the goalkeeper.

As per Whoscored, his average match rating this season of 6.31 actually ranks him 20th among all Birmingham City players, with only four players below him. Hogan has been shocking virtually all season, and the man with eight caps for the Republic of Ireland looks nothing like the player that convinced Villa to part big money with to sign.

Johan Lange played an absolute blinder by getting rid of him last summer.

Meanwhile, Villa must unleash this academy starlet in the Premier League…

Many Sunderland fans were left slamming the display of Jake Vokins in their side’s 2-1 loss away at Shrewsbury Town in the EFL League One on Tuesday night.

Aiden O’Brien actually gave the Stadium of Light faithful the lead midway through the first half of the game, before the Shrews scored twice in the second half through Ethan Ebanks-Landell and Harrison Chapman to earn all three points and inflict what was a damaging defeat for Lee Johnson’s team.

While there were some pretty poor performances all around for the Black Cats, Vokins really flattered to deceive several SAFC supporters.

The 20-year-old lost out on no fewer than four of his duels in the match and also failed to make a single interception, key pass or cross, earning him a very measly six overall rating on Sofascore, the lowest out of any player on the pitch.

Sunderland fan reaction to Vokins display

These fans slammed his performance on Twitter, with one supporter even going as far as to describe the left-back as a ‘rabbit in headlights’:

“Vokins was another who had a shocker.”

Credit: @MalcolmPEARSO15

“A 5 for Vokins man. Resembled a concussed seagull floating about after Chapman”

Credit: @BurnTheFingers

“Front 2 were gutless and anonymous today. Midfield 2 were soft, slow and lacked creativity. Vokins – mare. No words for Matthews!! I suggest 433 – LO/ MP/ DN in midfield. CW or RS/ JJ/ AMC or LG attack. Please change, we have 2 huge games next up.”

Credit: @mattbennettpt

“Sorry James, 5 for Vokins? The kid is out of position all the time, only made one attempt at a tackle all game, looked like a rabbit in headlights and frankly, simply isn’t good enough.”

Credit: @kevindefty1

“A few in here blaming goalkeeper, yes he made mistakes but Vokins poor as well and I know he scored but O’Brien awful as well. He doesn’t seem to know his best 11”

Credit: @craig1226murton

“Midfield offers absolutely nothing. Quick free kicks/short corners do not work for us. Both keepers are Jason Steele quality. Vokins has had two shockers at LB and bar his goal, AOB still offered nothing. Rant over”

Credit: @danwalkerxx

In other news, find out who was slammed for their display versus MK Dons here!

It’s now been close to a year since Stewart Donald first claimed he’d look to sell Sunderland but we’re not really any closer to reaching a conclusion.

It was reported last month that the Oxford-born businessman had agreed a deal with Juan Sartori and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus but evidently, it’s not been wrapped up yet.

Another interested party is Rich Energy CEO, William Storey.

The former Haas F1 investor has been very outspoken about his desires to buy the football club and after a long-winded interview with The Chronicle, it appears as though he’s already got plans in place for what he’d do at the Stadium of Light.

You have to credit it him because it genuinely looks as though he’s got Sunderland’s best interests at heart. However, all of his words and planning could be thrown out the window if it’s Dreyfus who ends up with the keys to the Stadium of Light.

One strategy Storey wants to implement if he walks through the door is something that falls into recruitment. He admitted last weekend that he wants to bring as many as five players currently at Premier League clubs to the north-east.

Of course, they won’t be established individuals but instead players under the age of 23 that reside in academy sides. Now, this may not sound like the smartest of ideas on paper given their relative inexperience but when it comes to the financial side of things, it’s incredibly cunning.

Sunderland are currently restricted by the EFL’s new salary cap – something the club voted against before it was introduced – and thus, they won’t be able to do too much in the January window.

However, as Storey concludes, these younger players are on smaller wages and would be easier to bring to the Mackems.

If Sunderland aren’t going to sell Aiden McGeady – someone on £31k-per-week – they will need all the financial help they can get. Of course, Storey would bring new investment with him but that’s not going to stop the club from crossing the line in terms of the salary restrictions.

The Black Cats may need to get rid of a few players but it is evident Storey knows the context of the club and how they can get around it.

“Academy players are on much lower money, that’s number one. The average Academy player in the Premier League wouldn’t be breaking the salary cap,” he stated.

It’s very shrewd and Sunderland could well give themselves a giant push towards promotion if they implement this successfully.

AND in other news, Sunderland can find another Semenyo if they swoop for gem with “lots of pace”…

According to Sky Sports, Arsenal are interested in signing Real Madrid starlet Martin Odegaard on loan in this January transfer window.

What’s the story?

After making significant moves already in trying to reduce the club’s bloated wage bill – the likes of Sokratis and Sead Kolasinac have left, and Mesut Ozil is set to follow – Mikel Arteta’s side have turned their attentions towards reinforcing their squad.

And, as per Sky Sports, the Gunners have made an approach to bring Odegaard on a loan deal until the end of the Premier League season, and that the Madrid board are considering their proposal right now.

The report adds that the Norway international expects to be able to leave the Bernabeu this month in a bid to get more first-team football, but that Arsenal are likely to face strong competition from Real Sociedad.

Perfect replacement for Ozil

The January transfer window is always a difficult one to do major business, with clubs understandably reluctant to let some of their most important players go mid-way through a campaign.

It’s one of the reported difficulties Arsenal have faced in trying to sign Norwich City’s Emiliano Buendia, with the Canaries of course battling for automatic promotion back to the Premier League this season.

It’s exactly why a short-term deal for Odegaard would be an Edu masterclass. It would give the Gunners an extra option in that number ten role and ease some of the creative burden on Emile Smith Rowe, whilst also making sure that if it doesn’t work out, they can just wave goodbye to him in the summer and focus on their priority transfer targets.

Described as a “phenomenon” by Norwegian football writer, Lars Sivertsen, Odegaard is a creative play-maker who appears to be tailor-made to come in and replace Ozil.

Spanish football journalist, Alvaro Montero, said: “He’s an extremely good player. He’s very similar to Mesut Ozil, he’s left-footed, he plays extremely well between the lines and between the striker and the midfielders. Maybe he even has more goal threat than Mesut Ozil, but he travels a little less. He’s an amazing player and I think he’ll be an amazing player for Arsenal and for Mikel Arteta.”

The Gunners must surely try and get this deal done.

Meanwhile, Arsenal must sell this £90k-p/w disaster…

Odsonne Edouard made a huge statement with his most recent performance for his country. The France reserve team were victorious over Switzerland U21 after netting three goals to their one. Celtic’s star man was on song for the home side, starting the match and paying off the manager’s faith by scoring a brace.

His double against the Swiss is the first time Edouard, who earns £19,000-a-week according to Salary Sport, has found the back of the net since Celtic played FK Sarajevo at the start of October. He now has two goals in his last eight appearances for both club and country, seemingly struggling to rediscover his groove after missing the action due to testing positive for coronavirus.

The 22-year-old’s international display will have put Neil Lennon at ease. The Hoops boss is not experiencing a typical Celtic season and he will be praying that his most reliable players, including Edouard, can pull the team through their recent struggles.

Edouard bounces back for France

Celtic have been relying on Mohamed Elyounoussi recently to score the majority of their goals. The Southampton loanee has bagged himself an impressive ten goals and four assists so far, ahead of Edouard on six goals and two assists. But this isn’t enough for Lennon, who has been knocked off the top spot in the Premiership by Steven Gerrard.

The Bhoys have also been struggling to find their gear in the Europa League as well. As it stands, they’re rooted to the bottom of their table with the one lone point, whilst Lille top the group, six points ahead.

Edouard’s performance will certainly be encouraging for Lennon, particularly after the £13.5million-rated striker failed to get involved in any of the five goals France U21 put past Liechtenstein U21 last week. His teammates will also be thrilled to see him rediscover his fiery form. Callum McGregor is especially fond of playing with the striker – he recently lauded his teammate as a “delight” to work with on the pitch.

Having come under scrutiny from the likes of Peter Martin, who described him as “lethargic” back in September, this was the perfect response from the centre-forward.

If he can apply the same threat in front of goal to Celtic’s upcoming match against Hibernian, the Hoops can start to close the nine-point gap between them and top-of-the-table Rangers.

In other news, This first team Celtic man is making both Hammond and Lennon look foolish by signing him…

Former Leeds United goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell has not seen his career progress in the way he might have hoped since joining Burnley, suggesting that Leeds’ director of football Victor Orta did extremely well to sell him for the price he did.

After making 41 appearances for the Whites, in which he conceded 53 goals and kept 11 clean sheets, the shot-stopper completed a move to Sean Dyche’s side in the summer of 2019.

Since then, he has managed just three appearances for the Clarets’ first-team, one of which came in their recent 5-0 defeat against Manchester City, where the 24-year-old produced a disappointing display, earning a 4.72 rating for his performance.

Whilst he has managed to establish himself as a regular in the Northern Ireland team, with 14 caps to his name, the former Leeds man has struggled for game time at Burnley, which is perhaps partly due to the superb form of Nick Pope in recent seasons.

Considering Leeds received £2.5 million for Peacock-Farrell, whilst he is now valued at just £1.08 million by Transfermarkt, it looks as if Orta did superbly in his negotiations.

When you consider the form of 20-year-old Illan Meslier so far this season, who Leeds were able to sign for just under £6 million, the deal Leeds got for Peacock-Farrell looks even better.

It seems unlikely that the 24-year-old will be able to establish himself as first-choice at Burnley anytime soon but hopefully, for the former Leeds man, he can prove himself as a Premier League goalkeeper in the future.

The young ‘keeper did earn some praise from Marcelo Bielsa after saving a penalty in the 1-0 win against Reading in 2018, with the Argentinian saying after the game:

“I’m very happy for him and I’m very happy for the team.”

“We had an intervention which resolved the game. He has a very big influence.”

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However, his form this season suggests that Orta sold him to Burnley at the perfect time and that Leeds won’t be having any regrets about letting him leave.

And, in other news… Carlton Palmer claims Leeds shouldn’t “rush into” contract decision for Bielsa favourite

Norwich City striker Teemu Pukki has tipped Glasgow Rangers ace Glen Kamara to play in the Premier League but Steven Gerrard’s side must keep the midfielder at all costs.

What’s the word?

Kamara has impressed for club and country in recent weeks as Finland ran riot over Bulgaria on Saturday. The 24-year-old also featured against the Republic of Ireland in the Nations League on Wednesday.

And Pukki has backed him to succeed south of the border. The former Celtic centre-forward told The National “Glen is a top player and I think he would definitely do well in the English Premier League. I’d bet on him playing there at some point in his career.”

But Kamara has insisted he isn’t thinking about a Premier League switch. He had attracted interest from Marseille in the summer after catching the eye of Andre Villas-Boas but a move never materialised. It remains to be seen how much it will take to tempt Kamara away from the Ibrox Stadium but the Gers have refused to sell him so far.

Keep Kamara at all costs!

It’s safe to say that Kamara has turned out to be a true bargain when you consider how little he cost the club in the first place. Rangers signed the 21-cap Finland international from Dundee United for just £50,000 in 2019.

And Scott Arfield admitted the Gers pulled off the “steal of the century” by signing him for just a snip. The Canada captain implied that Kamara is “only going to get better” after he arrived at the Ibrox Stadium.

He has since played nine Scottish Premiership games this season, whilst he has averaged one key pass, created one big chance and won at least one ground duel per game, as per SofaScore. Upon further inspection, if you take a close look at his heatmap, you can see a hub of activity dotted around the midfield area, which shows that he is a proper workhorse in the middle of the park.

This kind of work rate is almost always hard to find in any player, let alone a player in his position, so finding a suitable replacement would be a tough challenge, especially considering the current circumstances.

Kamara has been linked with Arsenal, Brighton, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace and Juventus, Marseille and Anderlecht in the last year alone, although Gerrard has made it clear that he isn’t going anywhere.

Rangers fans should be reassured that the board don’t seem to have any intentions of selling him anytime soon. In fact, they are prepared to offer the colossus a bumper new contract, if recent reports are to be believed…

AND in other news, Steven Gerrard must unleash Rangers ace Bongani Zungu against Celtic…