Jose Mourinho gets telling Celtic job verdict as Man Utd point made | Football | Sport

Legendary boss Jose Mourinho has been warned against a blockbuster switch to Celtic by Gordon Strachan. The Benfica manager has surprisingly emerged as one of the favourites to succeed Martin O’Neill when his contract expires in the summer.

Mourinho has a deal in Lisbon running until the summer of 2027 but possesses a break clause at the conclusion of this season. He was at the centre of an incident-filled and unsavoury Champions League clash on Tuesday evening. Mourinho was sent off after a furious outburst in a tie that saw Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior subjected to alleged racist abuse. Celtic haven’t been reluctant to make high-profile appointments over the years, such as Brendan Rodgers, but Strachan believes the Special One should be avoided. He maintains that a manager with experience of the Scottish game should be recruited to succeed O’Neill, and a leaf could be taken out of Manchester United’s book.

He told BetVictor: “I can’t see Jose sitting on the bench at Livingston on a plastic pitch, or Kilmarnock with a plastic pitch. He lives on the edge anyway and he’s been great for football. I just can’t see Jose at Kilmarnock with a plastic pitch.

“No, that’s not going to happen. For the guy’s mental state, I wouldn’t advise it either. It doesn’t matter what age you are or what you’ve done in the game, the key is understanding the players you have and determining the best system for them.

“Critically, you need good people, both as characters and players, around you. We’ve seen young managers come in and fail quickly, and we’ve seen older managers come and go. There is no one-size-fits-all identikit for this club. Success comes from someone understanding the club, understanding what is needed to win games, regardless of the system.

“Like set-plays, there are different tactical systems, but no one is definitively better than another for every situation. The priority is getting your best technically, physically, and mentally strong players onto the pitch. Manchester United recently eventually changed their approach when they realised the initial system wasn’t working for their players.

“It’s similar to Celtic’s experience, when a manager insisted on three at the back, despite the club having won 14 out of the last 15 titles playing a different way.

“There is no age requirement for this job, it’s about common sense and understanding what you have. It’s not about making yourself the best coach, it’s about making the players better and winning games. It’s not about the coaches who think they won the game.

“Notice how coaches often say the players stuck to the great system when they win, but when they lose, it’s always the players’ fault. A strange thing about coaching is that when a younger coach wins, it’s credited to their coaching, but when they lose, it’s blamed on the refereeing or something else, never themselves.

“The examples of two of the biggest clubs in the world, Celtic and Man United, show that if you bring in the wrong person and try to implement the wrong approach, you’re doomed.

“That’s why you revert to common sense, with someone like Michael Carrick, who understands the league, or a vastly experienced manager like Martin O’Neill.”

Strachan’s position could potentially alter Mourinho’s previous outlook. He left the possibility of a move to Scottish football open whilst managing Fenerbahce.

Speaking in March 2025, Mourinho stated: “In this moment, no, because I have a job that motivates me and a job that demands loyalty. But why not in the future? People can say that the Scottish league is a league of two teams, but it’s a league of passion. It’s a league of passion. And for me, passion in football is everything.

“For me, to play in empty stadiums, to play in competitions where there is not that fire of the passion doesn’t make any sense. And Celtic and Rangers, they are big clubs with big fan bases, with big emotions, big responsibilities, big expectations. Why not?”