Neil Lennon left red-faced as Celtic have Stuart Baxter mentor role blocked

CELTIC have been forced to abandon plans to employ Stuart Baxter as a mentor for manager Neil Lennon after the Finnish FA blocked even a casual role for their coach with the Parkhead club.

• Lennon: Mentor 'not essential'. Picture: SNS

Baxter met with Celtic's major shareholder Dermot Desmond and chief executive Peter Lawwell in London at the weekend to lay out the parameters of an ad hoc arrangement which would see him be available to give advice to Lennon.

After Celtic's match against Arsenal in the Emirates Cup on Sunday, which Baxter attended, Lennon confirmed that the 56-year-old would be a "part-time advisor" to him. But Celtic had to perform an embarrassing U-turn yesterday when it emerged the Finnish FA, who immediately opposed the idea when it was initially raised shortly before Lennon's permanent appointment as manager in June, had not softened their stance.

They have insisted Baxter, who is under contract with them until the conclusion of the forthcoming 2012 European Championship qualifying campaign, has no involvement with Celtic.

In a statement on their website, Celtic said: "As agreed with the Finnish FA, following further discussions, Stuart will not take up any formal position with Celtic Football Club. We would like to take the opportunity to wish Stuart and the Finnish FA every success in their forthcoming European Championship campaign."

It is understood Lennon is unhappy at having been placed in a position where he felt able to comment publicly about Baxter's position at the weekend.

The Celtic manager, preparing his team for tonight's Champions League third qualifying round, second leg against Braga, admitted yesterday that he is unsure whether an alternative candidate for the mentoring role will need to be identified.

"It would depend on who the person is," said Lennon. "I think it is maybe something worth exploring, but I don't see it as being essential. I've got four or five people I can speak to anyway, particularly ones who have been in this position before."

Lennon will be gratified to put the almost farcical Baxter saga behind him as he looks to continue rebuilding his squad.

He revealed he expects to have access to any income raised from the sale of Aiden McGeady who arrived in Moscow yesterday for talks with Spartak who have agreed a reported fee of 9.5 million with Celtic for the winger.

"He's gone over to have a look," said Lennon. "He was a wee bit apprehensive about it, but he wants to have a look at the stadium and see what Spartak have to offer.

If he doesn't go, it will have an impact on who I can go out and sign, because I won't have 9.5m. I would like to think we would get all of it. What comes in goes back out on the football side of things. That's been made clear. It's up to me whether I want to spend that amount or not. I think we need a couple of areas to improve the squad, but I don't think it will take all that money to do that."

McGeady is understood to prefer a move to the English Premier League, but no club there has yet come close to being prepared to match Celtic's valuation of him. Lennon believes the 24-year-old may have to reconsider his options and does not rule out him remaining with Celtic.

"This has dragged on a bit longer than we wanted. I would like to think we would get a definitive idea after this. Aiden is still our player as it stands. If he doesn't go to Spartak, then I'd need to sit down with him when he gets back and see where he is mentally, whether he wants to stay at Celtic or not."

Of more immediate concern to Lennon is tonight's match against Braga as his team attempt to overturn a 3-0 deficit from the first leg in Portugal last week. In addition to McGeady's absence, Lennon has a doubt over his potential successor, James Forrest. The 19-year-old winger, who impressed Lennon in Celtic's 2-2 Emirates Cup draw with Lyon on Saturday, missed training yesterday because of illness.

Lennon is again without the injured trio of Darren O'Dea, Mark Wilson and Niall McGinn but Celtic captain Scott Brown has recovered from an ankle knock sustained against Arsenal.