Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has provided an insight into what Celtic could expect if they appointed Kieran McKenna.
The Ipswich Town boss is one manager the Parkhead hierarchy are considering to replace Ange Postecoglou after his move to Tottenham. McKenna was a coach at Manchester United when Solskjaer was boss and the Norwegian was blown away by his work, especially defensively.
And his assistant manager at Portman Road, Martyn Pert, is another key bonus after seeing his work during a shared stint in Manchester. Solskjaer told the Athletic in May this year of the Celtic target: “Kieran was a surprise to me when I got to United. Michael, I already knew. We’d been coached by Sir Alex, from the old school. Kieran was not. He’s the most thorough and analytical, step-by-step, process-driven coach that I’ve worked with. He makes it so easy for the players to see and understand what we wanted from them. He’d do that the day before a game and his memory was also fantastic, his eye for detail too.
“One of his strong points was defensive organisation and I let him be in charge of that in training. I learned from him about defensive shape and how not to concede.
"Kieran would have unit meetings with the players and go through videos. He was more focused on when the team didn’t have possession, whereas Michael (Carrick) was about when the team did have possession. They gave the players the detail I wanted them to have before a game.
"He’s working with Martyn Pert. One of the first things I look for when I take someone on is integrity. Martyn and I did the Pro Licence coaching badge together. When I got the Cardiff job, he was there with Malky Mackay.
"I thought ‘I’d really like to work with Martyn.’ But after a few days, he came to me and said: ‘I can’t do this. I’d love to work with you but my loyalty is with Malky.’ I liked that about him. No bull****. It wasn’t right for him and I respected that.
“So when I had the chance to bring him to United, I did. I never forgot. He’d been around in different levels and in different countries. He speaks several languages so for me to have a coach who could communicate with players in their mother tongue was important. "
