JESSE MARSCH'S admission to the BBC yesterday that he was ‘honoured’ to be linked with the Celtic job has the hearts of supporters aflutter, with the RB Salzburg head coach setting tongues wagging from the Salzach to Sauchiehall Street.

One such interested observer was Derek Rae, with the commentator and German football expert’s ears pricked by the mention of Marsch in connection with a possible move to his homeland, having spent the last few weeks listening to Marsch’s name being touted for some seriously big jobs in the Bundesliga.

The Germans have a phrase, ‘Ich will kein Spielverderber sein, aber...’, which roughly translates into the Glaswegian parlance as an apology for relieving oneself on another person’s chips. Whatever the language though, and however contrite he may be, that is the sentiment easily understood when Rae considers the chances of Marsch pitching up at Celtic Park.

“I think Celtic fans need the full picture, and his name has been a hot name in Germany for a long time,” Rae said.

“His name is front and centre in all the weekend talk shows in Germany, and Austria is a place that the Bundesliga looks to – particularly Salzburg. The last few Salzburg coaches, almost without exception, have gone on to the Bundesliga, and with high profile clubs. It’s no great stretch to place Jesse Marsch in that category.”

A domino effect among some of the top coaches in Germany is also conspiring against any Celtic hopes of luring Marsch to Glasgow, as events look to be leaving the American holding all the cards.

“Borussia Monchengladbach have had a vacancy for a little while with Marco Rose going from there to Dortmund next season, and Marsch is the favourite,” he said.

“The other thing that has happened which has created a domino effect is that Jogi Low has announced he is going to leave as Germany’s national coach at the end of the Euros. Having done two years at Bayern, Hansi Flick might decide that is a good fit for him. Bayern would then turn to Julien Nagelsmann as their preferred candidate, and that would leave a vacancy at Leipzig.

“Marsch used to work at Leipzig as assistant coach, he’s come through that entire system from New York where he was head coach, to going to work under Ralf Rangnick as assistant at Leipzig, and then to Salzburg as head coach. That organisation always do things with a master plan, so I think he’s in a situation now where he’s a wanted man, and he knows that.

“He’s also a very polite guy from Wisconsin, and until a few years ago, he was someone who wasn’t on the world football coaching radar at all, so he will be tickled that a club like Celtic would be interested.

“I think we have to realise though that there is a difference between being flattered and honoured and using words like that, and actually taking on a job when you know you are in the running for much bigger jobs, and probably jobs that are more suited to his skillset.”

What Rae is alluding to here is that Marsch is not only entrenched in the Red Bull organisation, but also in the German-style club structure which runs contrary to the more traditional British set-up, where the manager is the seat of power when it comes to all footballing decisions including the recruitment of players.

There has been much talk of Celtic modernising their football department to accommodate a director of football alongside a progressive coach, with some fans even daring to hope for a dream ticket of Marsch and former mentor Rangnick to fulfil those roles.

While Rae agrees that this is a path Celtic should pursue, and prioritise the appointment of a director of football in particular, he doused a shower of rain over that particular parade too.

“People in Scotland still have the tendency to expect managers to be given the keys to the kingdom,” he said. “Jesse Marsch is a coach, he’s not a manager.

“He’s worked in set-ups where he’s not signing the players, someone else in the sporting division is doing that.

“That’s why when he asked the question in the BBC interview ‘What would the project be?’ what he’s really saying is what is the sporting division like? Who is doing that? What is the track record of success?

“I would say that’s what Celtic really need to be doing first [appointing a director of football]. If you were bringing someone like Marsch in to be a coach and a director of football essentially, unless you restructure, then that’s not what he has done.

“That’s where Celtic have to go next. They have to get a football department, and it has to be a fully functioning one, not just one person. And it has to modelled on successful set-ups elsewhere.

"In the UK, it’s very much out with the old and in with the new when a manager leaves. You throw a few darts at the wall and hope they stick, then if that doesn’t work you do the same again and a new manager comes in and is left with players who are not good fits for what he’s trying to do.

“The whole point of it is to get continuity, and a coach doesn’t come in and change everything himself. He might subtly tweak some things, but from the point of view of the first XI, not the philosophy of the club.

“For Marsch to be tempted, it would have to be someone like Rangnick coming along with him who he has worked with and deeply respects, but I don’t see that as a goer.

“He is still in the running for the national team job, he’s also been mentioned in regards to Schalke, and he’s also at the point of his life where he can afford to wait for whatever is the most exciting project that he wants to take on. He speaks a lot about England, I’ve never heard him talk about Scotland.

“I think Celtic fans have to be realistic on this one, and I don’t expect Rangnick to come to Celtic. He has already done it at Leipzig with much greater resources, and I’m struggling work out how Celtic would have anything like those resources.

“I don’t want to be a killjoy, but I think Celtic fans should know the bigger picture."