RINI Coolen either sold a dummy the great Jimmy Johnstone would have been proud of or the Rosenborg caretaker coach doesn’t know even a small amount about Celtic.

His only link – and boy is this tenuous – to Scottish football is that he knows Theo Snelders, the former Aberdeen goalkeeper, but apart from that his knowledge of the game here appeared to be non-existent.

Given what is coming up, this might prove a problem.

Read more: Brendan Rodgers: Celtic need to spend big money to improve on last season - and we simply can't do it

Asked to name any Celtic player who might cause his Rosenborg team troubles, he couldn’t come up with one. Neither did he know much about the history of the club he was visiting; perhaps the first every opposition coach not to warble on about this famous footballing name.

Had he watched the games from last year? No. Could he say for definite when he was offered the job? No. He said Monday, changed it to Thursday, and then Rosenborg briefed the Norwegian press pack that is was actually Wednesday.

And it even seemed as if he hadn’t been told Celtic were without half a defence and their star striker.

Perhaps Mr Coolen was playing dumb. After all, he has been in the job for only seven, or is it eight, days and with players publicly angry about Kare Ingebrigsten being sacked, the Dutchman, who actually came across as a decent person, was perhaps justifiably a bit bewildered.

He certainly looked it.

Or maybe Coolen was playing all of us. Perhaps his new players know everything there is to know about Celtic from the style of play to what Scott Brown has for breakfast.

“I didn’t think I would be here but football can be strange,” admitted Coolen . “I was not celebrating when the situation came about but I am honoured to be asked to take over. I’ve been working hard with the players over the last few days.

“My job has been to analyse the opponent and make the team ready for this game. I’ve tried to do that as good as possible. We will see tomorrow how we get on.

Read more: Dave King: I hope Rangers can make two more new signings - and challenge Celtic for the league this season​

“I don’t have that much knowledge of Scottish football to be honest. I’ve had contact with Theo Snelders, the goalkeeping coach. He has told me a lot about Scotland but that’s it’s really.

“Snelders spoke about how it can be in Scotland and how he was happy to be here during his life. He is a great person and he wished me all the best. He spoke very positively about this country.”

Asked what he knew about Celtic, which ordinarily is the cue for lots of nice words said about the history and what-not, Coolen said: “I don’t think what I know is really relevant. It’s more about the style of play and what we can expect than the history or the names in the team. I hope my boys go out and enjoy it because they have worked hard to get to this level.”

So, which Celtic players did he believe carried the biggest threat.

“I can’t say specific names. It could be anyone. But it won’t affect our game plan.”

There was only one goal between the teams 12 months ago but he has not watched that footage “not relevant” but did say he had swotted up on the Scottish champions.

Read more: Neil Cameron: Kris Boyd is a national treasure who should still be playing for Scotland​

Coolen said: “I have used all the time we have in the last three days and we will be ready. It was enough to be ready. Celtic have players out but others will come in and get their chance. Tomorrow it will be 11 v 11 and we will fight.”

Coolen has enjoyed an eclectic coaching career. He had two years in charge of Twente Enschede for two years and then moved about the Dutch lower leagues, Australia and the Aruba national team (a small Dutch colony a few miles of South America) before moving to Rosenborg.

Coolen lasted just six weeks in the Aruba job after losing three of his four games to St Vincent and Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda.

A Norwegian journalist asked him if he could remember what it was like to win a game, a request which was neatly side-stepped.

Coolen said: “I was working as director of the academy in Aruba. It’s a part of the Netherlands and I enjoyed it. I can’t compare that atmosphere to Celtic Park.”

Rosenborg captain Mike Jensen was not for talking about what had just happened at the club but tried to look ahead to the next match.

He said: “We are really looking forward to the game. We are excited. It was a great experience when we were here last year and we are looking forward to the game,. I have no comment about (problems with the board).

“We will see if we are a stronger team than a year ago. We came through to the Europa League last year and that gave us good experience.

“We will see how we have learned from that but it’s good we have been here before on this big stage. Some of our players have been here before and they know what to expect. We have a chance tomorrow. It’s small but we will go for it.”