Former Celtic Centre-Back Unexpectedly Named Head Coach of Another Club

Celtic have had lots of former players heading elsewhere this year, both in a transfer capacity and a coaching capacity. It is just part of the business to see former talents head to new clubs whenever a new opportunity arises, and a few coaching openings have been made clear following the 2024-2025 campaign.

Dundee FC have found their head coach of the future and selected a former Celtic centre-back in the process to run team operations.

This makes for a fun connection between playing career and coaching career, as a two-season veteran of Celtic heads to a new SPFL club to take on the challenge of turning around their fortunes.

The coach in question also has past managerial experience, though, having had various coaching positions, dating back to 2005 as a caretaker for Hearts. After last being hired as a manager in 2019, he had spent the past four years at Brentford in talent management and this return to coaching was somewhat unexpected.

Which Former Celtic Player Has Been Named a Head Coach Recently?

The former Celtic defender to land the coaching gig for Dundee is Steven Pressley, who played for the Scottish side from 2006 to 2008. The large majority of his playing career came with Hearts and Dundee United, and as someone who never played for Dundee, he will now switch sides after playing for a litany of other Scottish clubs.

The move was announced recently via an official press release from the club, which included the following statement regarding the hire of Pressley:

"Dundee Football Club are today delighted to announce the appointment of Steven Pressley as the club’s new Head Coach. Steven is a well-known name throughout British football and possesses fantastic knowledge and experience of the game. A thorough and comprehensive search process was conducted for our new Head Coach, and Steven emerged as the standout candidate."

While it is for another club, it is exciting to see former Celtic players getting opportunities elsewhere, regardless. Dundee avoided relegation this season by a thin margin, so now Pressley will look to turn things around for the club and bring it back to relevance. It is going to be a tough process to go through for the long-time manager, but he should be able to help get them back on track to some degree.