· December 11 2024, 18:00
Reports from Scotland are suggesting that 19th July 2025 could see Newcastle United hop over Hadrian's Wall to take on Celtic.
It's an intriguing prospect for the Celtic lot who will no doubt be preparing a very frosty reception for Eddie Howe (should he still be in charge of Newcastle by then).
Eddie Howe was set to become Celtic boss before Ange Postecoglou took over but ultimately turned down the job after it was made clear that he wouldn't be able to bring in his own team.
Howe eventually signed for Newcastle United and brought the likes of Jason Tindall and Steven Purches with him and the rest is history.
Advertisement
Eddie Howe recently spoke about how close he came to joining Celtic
Indeed, Howe recently shed more light on the Celtic situation in the interview with Simon Jordan for his Up Front podcast.
"Yeah, so 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.
"For me, if I was to go into a football club, I could have gone in on my own and worked with the staff that are there. I felt I needed to go at my strongest. My strongest would have been with my team, so that’s Jason Tindall, Steven Purches, Simon Weatherstone and Dan Hodges. These are important people to me.
"So I’d sort of 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 it would have been wrong for Celtic as well, I think. So I declined the offer."
Advertisement
Newcastle are getting a head start on pre-season prep
The Daily Mail are reporting that the date has been set as 19th July as one of Celtic's final warm-up games before the new season.
If it turns out to be true it's good to see that Newcastle are getting a jump on pre-season preparations early as this summer's friendly schedule seemed oddly rushed.
Celtic should also provide decent competition as the season draws closer, rather than playing 'lesser' sides we should be walking all over.