Eddie Howe's proposed move to Celtic back in 2021 seems like a lifetime ago, with both the Hoops and Howe performing well in the aftermath of the broken-down deal - but it was a talking for Simon Jordan, who grilled the Newcastle boss over his ambition.
With the Hoops having suffered a shocking campaign in lockdown under Neil Lennon, the Hoops hero was given the boot and the reins were left to John Kennedy for his side to crawl sheepishly over the line in a season to forget in the east end. However, talks for a new manager were underway - with Howe being one of the main names in the hat.
For multiple reasons, the move broke down and Celtic chiefs instead opted for a certain Ange Postecoglou - which didn't turn out to be a bad deal for both parties in the end, with the Aussie winning a treble at Celtic Park whilst Howe saw Champions League football at St. James' Park. But Jordan hasn't forgotten the talks held in Glasgow - and he went in hard on the Englishman, who in turn, agreed that the pundit's observation was 'grotesquely unfair'.
With the pair engaged in conversation on Jordan's 'Up Front' podcast, Howe remembered a previous clip of Jordan who said that the former Bournemouth boss had 'bottled' the pressure of a title race in the Scottish Premiership - but Howe shot him down.
Speaking first, the former Crystal Palace chairman said: “So you get Celtic coming in the door. And I remember pining on at the time. I didn’t pine on in a very complimentary way because I felt that you bottled it. It’s one way of putting it.
"I felt that the Celtic job is a massive job in football. It comes with its own pressure that you’re in a two-horse league and ultimately you’ve got to win. There’s no alternative. And it felt to me like you didn’t fancy it for that reason. Celtic obviously thought quite highly of you and if you look at what they said at the time, they were, it looked like, alighting upon you for a big job. A job with European football attached to it, a job with scale and recognisability around the world. So put aside the baiting observation of me saying that you bottled it. What was the reason that you wouldn’t have taken on such a big job like Celtic?”
Simon Jordan
Simon Jordan
But Howe responded concisely and positively, stating that the real reason was that his backroom staff wouldn't follow him north of the border. He said: “During that period that I’d had out, I’d had a few job offers, but I’d said I’m not considering anything for a year. That year had passed and Celtic came up and I was immediately attracted to the job. I thought, ‘Wow, what an opportunity. What a football club’.
“Great people as well. The people I met were unbelievable. So there was no downside for me, but I had to get my staff together. I could have gone in on my own and worked with the staff that are there. But I felt I needed to go in at my strongest. My strongest would have been with my team, so that’s Jason Tindall, Steven Purchase, Simon Weatherstone, and Dan Hodges. These are important people to me.
“So I’d made my decision. I was really keen to go. Jason had left Bournemouth, but I couldn’t get them together. I couldn’t get the team to all agree. And it wasn’t necessarily I needed every single one of them. But of course, that’s an important dynamic. And I didn’t feel that was right for me to take the opportunity. In that moment would have been wrong for Celtic as well, I think. So I declined the offer."
Jordan hit back, stating: “So it’s grotesquely unfair, my observation?”
But Howe got the final word in by digging Jordan out for jumping to conclusions over why he didn't take the job, adding: “Well, it is, yeah. But that’s what happens in the media, doesn’t it? You jump to conclusions. I heard that, and you have to accept it. You can’t fight it.”
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