Jansen picks his man

Wim Jansen believes Celtic assistant head coach Murdo MacLeod is the natural replacement to succeed him at Parkhead. The Dutchman, who resigned from his post as head coach on Monday after a breakdown in his working relationship with general manager Jock Brown, views MacLeod as the ideal choice.

The former Celtic and Scotland star played a key role working alongside Jansen in the Scottish Premier Division title and Scottish League Cup successes enjoyed this term.

MacLeod is rated favourite to take the post by bookmakers, but is known to be considering his own future plans in the wake of Jansen's acrimonious departure.

In view of the internal rift between Jansen and Brown, managing director Fergus McCann could well be tempted to make an outside appointment to start afresh.

And if MacLeod were not considered for the post his position would naturally come under threat if a new man arrived with his own backroom support.

But Jansen, speaking in Portugal where Celtic faced Sporting Lisbon in a friendly fixture last night, is of no doubt MacLeod deserves the promotion.

He said: "I wanted to bring in new players and was stopped by the people in charge. My ambitions for the club were different from those in control.

"But Murdo and I think the same way. It is like one person when we make plans. He would carry on the job the way I would have liked to have done so."

The mood among the Celtic players in Lisbon continues to be one of confusion, with Alan Stubbs following Paul Lambert in backing Jansen.

The former Bolton defender's game was transformed under Jansen who by introducing Marc Rieper to the back line, enabled Stubbs to fulfil his potential as a creative centre half.

He told the Glasgow Evening Times: "If it were not for Wim Jansen we would not have won the League, it's as simple as that.

"I find it bizarre the club are now saying what he achieved and the way he did would not have been enough to see him retained.

"It seems Wim was in a no-win situation. He treated us with respect and I believe he's the only one to come out of this whole thing with his head held high."

"My only hope now is that Celtic can get a replacement in quickly and we can avoid the situation of last summer when we headed off to pre-season training not knowing who would be in charge of the team."