Chris Sutton has insisted former Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou is the “obvious choice” to replace Brendan Rodgers at Parkhead.
Rodgers resigned on Monday, a day after the club fell to eight points behind in the league clash with leaders Hearts.
Martin O’Neill, 73, will take interim charge, returning to the Parkhead dugout alongside former player Sean Maloney.
Rodgers’ second Celtic record
Sutton also believes his former manager O’Neill can help bring the club together, and Postecoglou’s full return would be a “really smart appointment”.
Postecoglou wins back-to-back league titles with Celtic
Shortly after, Celtic’s majority shareholder Dermot Desmond issued an extraordinary statement, claiming Rodgers had created a “toxic atmosphere”.
Desmond added that the former Liverpool manager’s criticism of the club’s transfer business was “divisive, misleading and self-serving”.
Sutton: It was obvious that Rodgers wanted him out.
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Watch highlights from Rodgers’ last game as Celtic manager, a 3-1 defeat at Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts.
“I don’t think it’s a complete shock,” Sutton told Sky Sports News following Rodgers’ resignation. “I wrote a column at the weekend saying that Brendan wanted to leave the club, including some of his recent comments.
“Obviously there is a rift in the relationship with the club. It all stems from Brendan going public before the season started and being critical of the lack of quality coming into the club. I think he was disappointed by that.”
“Then Celtic were eliminated from Champions League qualification. We had a really slow start to the season and we lost some quality players recently and we couldn’t replace them. I think he felt he wasn’t supported.”
Desmond’s comments are ‘damaging’ to Rogers, board not innocent
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Dermot Desmond’s terrible comments after Rodgers resigns as manager
“If you read Dermot Desmond’s statement, it’s very critical of Brendan. In many ways, when there was clearly a breakdown between Brendan and the hierarchy at the club, it was inevitable that something had to give and Brendan ended up walking away.
“It’s going to be very interesting to see if Brendan responds to Dermot Desmond’s statement. It’s quite damaging and Brendan is clearly entitled to a response. Things didn’t end well.
“I think everyone suspected that things weren’t right, but let’s make it right, the board is not blameless in this whole situation.
“If you go back to the beginning of the year, Celtic were in a really strong position. They played Bayern Munich and almost got knocked out of the Champions League and the club was on a bit of a roll. I think everyone expected the club to do pretty well in terms of recruitment in the summer, even though they lost some quality players. That didn’t happen.”
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The Telegraph’s Sam Dean believes Desmond’s nasty comments towards Celtic supporters are an attempt to damage Rodgers’ reputation in the long term.
“The manager was not happy about it and it was a really disastrous start to the season.
“Celtic’s front line has lost its form recently and they are currently eight points behind league leaders Hearts.
“The club is in a bit of a bind and Brendan has decided to step down. It’s probably the best thing for the club when things are this bad.”
O’Neal returns the correct choice so far
O’Neill will replace Rodgers ahead of Wednesday’s game against Falkirk.
“I understand the appointment of Martin O’Neill as he is a very popular manager. He was my first manager at Celtic and is loved by the supporters.
“Many supporters would have been unhappy if the club had left that role to Sean Maloney alone. They now have a figurehead and a public figure.”
“I think the biggest question is who is going to be the next permanent manager at Celtic? Who are we going to appoint next?”
“It’s not going to be an easy situation, because the team is devastated due to injuries to key players, and we don’t have any strength or depth. The team will be under a lot of pressure (from now until January).”
“We play Rangers in the League Cup semi-final, which is really big, and all the upcoming games are big.
“In the short term, the job that Martin O’Neill takes over will not be easy.
O’Neill returns to Celtic on an interim basis
“Martin was a much-loved player during his time as manager, so I’m sure the supporters will be happy to have him back.
“He turned the tables and his time was the beginning of Celtic’s dominance in Scottish football. He will come into the team and try to do what he did in the first round, reinvigorate the club and try to get the support and everyone, the club’s staff and hierarchy, all pulling in the same direction.”
Could Mr. Postecoglou be the long-term solution?
Postecoglou won five of six trophies in his two seasons at Celtic.
Postecoglou spent two seasons at Celtic before moving to Spurs, where he led the club to the Europa League title.
He was sacked from that job and then became manager of Nottingham Forest, but was sacked after just 39 days and found himself out of a job again.
“I think Ange Postecoglou is going to be a really smart pick. He was loved from the first round,” Sutton said.
“His brand of football didn’t work out in Glasgow. He lost his job. It’s a very obvious choice and I think it’s a good choice and it would bring a lot of positivity to Celtic and they need it right now.”
