FORMER Celtic striker Chris Sutton thinks this is a great time for any new manager to take over at the Parkhead club – as the situation can’t get any worse! Sutton was not surprised to see the club announce yesterday that they are to part ways with Ronny Deila in the summer, having been one of the Norwegian’s fiercest critics during his two years in charge.

Sutton’s fear now, however, is that not having full say over any transfers may put off some high-profile candidates like Davie Moyes from throwing their hat into the ring, with chief Peter Lawwell and chief scout John Park understood to have a major input in the club’s signing policy.

Speaking at the John Hartson Foundation Golf Day at Mar Hall, Sutton said: “I don’t know the transfer policy but we all have our ideas about what’s going on. When I spoke to Ronny earlier in the season he said he gets a say. So you have to take him at his word. But it’s clearly a problem.

“I don’t know if they have been in touch with other managers but there are less than three months now until the Champions League qualifiers and we all know how important these games are. I would have thought giving a new manager longer to prepare would have been better as it’s going to be difficult anyway. But who they get, how they get him, and how much control the new manager will get all need to be answered.

“Would David Moyes want the job? Would someone of his ilk want it if he doesn’t have control of what they want to do? That’s a problem and it makes it not easy to choose who the next manager could be. But it’s always a privilege to manage Celtic and the quality of football is that bad now – and that was glaring in that wake-up call at the weekend – that it’s actually not a bad job to take because it can’t get much worse!”

Sutton was not surprised that Celtic have decided to make a change in the dug-out, believing for some time that Deila was not the right man for the job. He even felt that losing on penalties to Rangers in Sunday’s Scottish Cup tie may well prove to be a blessing in disguise in the long run.

He added: “Had Celtic won on Sunday and went on to win the double it would just have been papering over the cracks. At least now people can see it. The failure to win big games had been going on for months, the fact they are one-dimensional. If he had stayed, Rangers’ biggest asset next season would have been Ronny Deila. So Celtic needed to change. And the sooner they do it the better.

“People say Deila is a good coach but he doesn’t have the ability to change things. We could all see what was happening on Sunday, the players on the pitch all know what is going on, so why doesn’t the manager? Celtic only have one way of playing. And that’s a problem when players hide or don’t have confidence to play that way. Ronnie didn’t have the ability to change. It doesn’t matter how you win but you have to be adaptable. And Celtic haven’t been.

“He hung his hat on his development of young players and you can’t argue with Kieran Tierney. But Kieran Tierney alone. You can’t talk about Callum McGregor, he’s 22 and these strange signings of Scott Allan and Ryan Christie. Christie would have been better off staying at Inverness all season rather than playing development football. The same with Scott Allan. They must regret ever moving to Celtic. They’ve be better off playing first team football at their old clubs.”

Deila made a big play of trying to make Celtic fitter and healthier when he first arrived two years ago, famously changing the menu in the club’s training ground and getting rid of chips and fizzy drinks. Sunday’s game – when Rangers looked by far the stronger and faster team – was further evidence that his revolution hadn’t worked as planned.

Sutton added: “Where do you even start with that? I played with Neil Lennon and Ronny Deila was critical of him when he first came in. I don’t want to keep panning Ronny but he came in and promised high intensity, high pressure football based on fitness. So fast forward two years down the line, for them to perform in such a manner is hard to defence. You get time in your first year. We all understand that. But clearly there’s been a downward spiral, a regression.”

Sutton hoped whoever comes in will be able to galvanise the club and quickly. He added: “The worrying thing for me is going forward. The Champions League qualifiers are less than three months away. How is this team going to improve in 10 weeks? Celtic need to get back to having an identity because, unlike Rangers, they don’t have one at the moment. Whoever the new manager is, I believe he’ll do better than Ronny with this set of players; he could hardly do worse.”