Scott Bain: Eddie Howe is an exciting name - talk of him joining has increased pressure on the Celtic players

Former Burnley and Bournemouth manager Howe is expected to be confirmed as Neil Lennon’s permanent replacement in the coming days.

But Bain, who helped the Glasgow club beat Falkirk 3-0 on Saturday and book a Scottish Cup last 16 tie against Rangers later this month, believes the Englishman has already had an impact in the East End. 

Asked if the players were subconsciously trying to impress the new manager, Bain said: “I think so. That is always the case at Celtic anyway. You need to perform every week at this club regardless of the situation.

“But there is a little bit of added pressure. You want to put in good performances for whoever might come in if someone has been watching in the background.

“When you are at Celtic there is always pressure on the performances because there’s always someone biting at your heels trying to take your place. So it’s nothing new, but the situation does keep you on your toes.”

He added: “I don’t think we’ve been distracted by it. There’s been a lot of talk and speculation for a while now so it’s been going on in the background. It seems to be ramping up these last couple of days, but it’s nothing we can control.

“We can only control what happens on the pitch and we’ve been working hard in training with John Kennedy and the coaching staff. We’ve been really enjoying it and I think that’s been seen in the last few games.”

Many Celtic players have been tipped to depart Parkhead this summer and whoever comes in as manager is likely to have a major rebuilding job on their hands.

But Bain believes that several of his team mates could either decide to remain in Glasgow or return on loan if Howe is the man who comes in. 

“They might do, you never know,” he said. “Every player has their own situations and their own agendas about what they want to achieve in football and where they want to play.

“It’s an individual thing. But you never know, whoever comes in might convince people who thought they wanted to play somewhere else to stay for another year or two.

“For me, I want to be here as long as possible and any time I get the chance to play I want to do my best for the club.”

Bain continued: “I think it's an exciting name. There will be a lot of managers out there who will want to take this job.

“I’m sure there will be a lot of people in the background, working behind the scenes making sure they pick the right candidate for the job.

“As players we can only concentrate on what we do on the pitch and we’ll do our best whoever it is that comes in.”

Bain helped Celtic keep a clean sheet in their win over League One leaders Falkirk on Saturday and admitted he wants to help his side maintain their performance levels against Rangers and land silverware their season

“There’s a huge incentive,” he said. “We’ve had huge disappointment in the other two competitions. This one is ours and we want to keep it.

“We don’t want to give it up easily so it gives us added motivation for the last five games of the season. We don’t want to drop our standards.”