GUUS Hiddink, the man Celtic are willing to pay #1.5m per year to become their new head coach, could have become Motherwell manager six years ago, The Herald can reveal.
The Dutchman applied for the Fir Park post vacanted by Tommy McLean, who left to join Hearts, but chairman John Chapman felt that such a bold move would have been too revolutionary for Scottish football at the time and instead offered the job to rookie Alex McLeish.
While Hiddink stands to become one of the highest-paid managers in world football, his wages eclipsing those of his countryman, Dick Advocaat, at Rangers, the remuneration package on offer at Motherwell was less than #100,000.
Although Motherwell let the world-renowned coach, a man who guided PSV Eindhoven to the European Cup in 1988, slip through their fingers, Hiddink's disappointment was eased six months later, when he was appointed successor to Advocaat with the Dutch national team.
Hiddink was alerted to the vacancy at Motherwell by agent Bob Maaskant - who had been involved in bringing Dutchmen Sieb Dykstra and Luc Nijholt to Lanarkshire - and posted his CV to Chapman straight away. Leo Beenhakker, another former national coach of the Netherlands, was also on the shortlist after having expressed his interest.
Former Motherwell secretary Alan Dick confirmed last night that Hiddink had applied for the job. ''Yes, Celtic were not the first Scottish club Guus Hiddink was interested in,'' said Dick, who is now chief executive/secretary at second division Partick Thistle.
''He wrote a letter personally to John and sent a CV that was very impressive. He was on the shortlist, but he did not get to the interview stage.
''He was unemployed at the time, but John felt it might have been a bit radical. I spoke to Beenhakker and he too was interested. He was in Mexico with SC America and was keen to return to Europe.
''Motherwell were a big club at the time, remember. They had been in Europe, but Alex did a good job taking them back into the UEFA Cup against Borussia Dortmund.
''I don't think John Chapman has any regrets. He thought Hiddink might have been out of his price range - we certainly weren't offering #1.5m - and left it at that, but maybe looking back, he might wish he had appointed him.''
It was Dick who responded to Hiddink's application and relayed the bad news. He recalled: ''I just wrote a letter to him thanking him for his interest but informing him that Alex McLeish had been appointed.''
Celtic chief executive Allan MacDonald has had to use all his powers of persuasion to convince Hiddink to leave relegation-threatened Betis for Parkhead, but the word from Spain yesterday was that the coach has asked for a fortnight to make up his mind.
The timing of Celtic's move has angered club president Manuel Ruis de Lopera and he will meet today with Hiddink to sort out his short-term future in light of growing unease among the supporters, who fear the speculation might undermine the club's effort to move clear of relegation trouble.
Already, however, Lopera appears to have conceded defeat in his bid to tempt Hiddink to stay and has earmarked Victor Fernandez, of Celta Vigo, and Mane, of CD Alaves, as possible replacements.
MacDonald, who has remained tight-lipped throughout negotiations, could be severely reprimanded by the SFA's general purposes committee today, when they investigate comments made by him in January.
He had revealed that a psycho- analysts report had been prepared for the club following the 1-1 Old Firm encounter with Rangers on December 27 and, from that report, it had been suggested that doubts could be raised over the handling of the game by referee Hugh Dallas, as he had patted the bottom of one of the Ibrox players, showing that he may not be completely neutral. MacDonald will not appear personally.
Meanwhile, midfielder Stilian Petrov will miss Celtic's match against Motherwell on Saturday week. The Bulgarian internationalist's sixth yellow card of the season, picked up during the 2-2 weekend draw against Dundee at Parkhead, carries him over the disciplinary points threshold.
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