Former player Charlie Nicholas says he would have appointed Slaven Bilic as permanent Celtic manager ahead of Neil Lennon.

The Irishman is expected to be officially named the new Hoops boss imminently, but the TV pundit would have liked to have seen Bilic get the job instead:

“I didn’t think it was the right decision. I would’ve went for something a little bit different. I was looking at somebody like [Slaven] Bilic or someone that might have a different creative [approach] but Neil did a fabulous sit-in for Brendan Rodgers.”

The former West Ham manager was reportedly on a shortlist of candidates for the job before chief executive Peter Lawwell announced after the Scottish Cup final that they intended to appoint Lennon.

During his second spell in charge at Celtic Park, the former Hibs boss has won nine, drawn three and lost one of his 13 games.

His only defeat was a disappointing loss to arch-rivals Rangers with some supporters believing that an alternative candidate should be pursued.

Whether Bilic would have been a better choice, as Nicholas claims, it is debatable. The Croatian has had a disappointing spell with Saudi Arabian outfit Al-Ittihad following his sacking by West Ham in November 2017.