Celtic want Norway's World Cup coach Controversial long-ball devotee Olsen is main target as Jansen's successor

Olsen, who will take his team into action against Scotland in the second of the group games in France next month, has been guiding his country's national side for eight years. In that time, he has developed a formidable reputation for results and for turning the Norwegians into opposition who are feared by many more powerful football nations.

He has encouraged his teams during his near decade in charge to rely on a long-ball game that is frowned on by the purists but which has brought Norway unprecedented success.

They were in the United States at the finals last time round and now they are in France after going through their qualifying games with an undefeated record in a group that also contained Switzerland, Finland, Hungary and Azerbaijan.

His single greatest achievement was, of course, the defeat of Brazil last summer when the World champions went to Oslo for a warm-up game before playing in the Tournoi in France. That caused the South American coach Mario Zagallo such concern that he has hinted that the Scandinavian side are among his outsiders for the trophy.

Celtic have been impressed by his track record and by his reputation as a disciplinarian and they have had preliminary contact with Olsen as they attempt to fill the gap left with the departure of the Dutchman, Wim Jansen, last week. The club do not wish to go through a summer of uncertainty similar to the one they suffered a year ago after the sacking of their previous team manager, Tommy Burns.

Then, Jansen was the man eventually chosen to take over, but the delay in finding and appointing him meant that the players went through part of their pre-season training programme without a coach in place. This time the Scottish champions would like to avoid that kind of delay.

They recognise that they would require to wait until the Norwegians were knocked out of the tournament, but if Olsen had accepted the post before then, player planning could be under way while he still looked after his nation's immediate interests.

Olsen has intimated that he would like to move into club management after the finals, having already spent time as coach for the under-21 team and the Olympic side.

He was a player with three little-known teams in his own country but blossomed as a coach to give Norway the finest period in the country's history. When they qualified for the finals in the United States four years ago, it was the first time they had reached that stage of the tournament since 1938 - the last time it was played in France.

Now they are back again and will be a formidable barrier to Scotland's qualification from the group.

Olsen does have his critics, however. He is a disciple of the Englishman, Commander Charles Reep, whose ideas on tactics have long been discredited south of the Border.

For a spell, though, Reep's ideas held sway in the corridors of coaching power. The idea of the POMO (Position of maximum opportunity) was thought to be the over-riding tactic in the game.

It means, simply, getting the ball forward into the opposition penalty box as often as possible. It is not elegant. It is not artistic. It is purely functional, but it has worked for Norway as it has often worked for Wimbledon down south - and also for the Republic of Ireland under Jack Charlton.

No doubt other candidates will emerge, but with initial contact being made it would appear that Olsen is the main man in owner Fergus McCann's sights. In Norway last night a friend of Olsen explained: ''Egil has always been an admirer of British football.

''That has been the inspiration for his successes with Norway and his ambition has always been to work there. The fact that Celtic are in the European Cup is an added attraction of course.''