Celtic hero 'highly sought after' for sporting director job as Hoops favourite subject of explosive rumour
The player was on the books at Celtic from 2011 to 2019 and was a popular man at Celtic Park
Celtic are back in Europa League action on Thursday night with an away trip to Rotterdam to face Feyenoord. The Hoops won 1-0 away at St Mirren last time out in the Scottish Premiership. Callum McGregor scored a last-gasp winner for the Glasgow giants to help them secure a useful three points against the Buddies in Paisley.
They are four points behind top of the table Hearts with a game in-hand. Martin O’Neill remains in caretaker charge at Celtic Park following Brendan Rodgers’ exit. Colombus Crew’s Wilfried Nancy is the preferred candidate to become their permanent head coach.
Former Celtic player Mikael Lustig in contention for new role
Former Celtic player Mikael Lustig is a candidate to become the Sporting Director at Västerås SK, according to Swedish news outlet Expressen. The Allsvenskan new boys have identified him as a potential behind-the-scenes addition. Their head coach Kalle Karlsson is a target for both AIK and Hammarby IF. Expressen’s headline translates to: “The bomb: Mikael Lustig is currently the sports director at VSK.”
Lustig, now 38, signed for the Hoops back in 2011 and spent seven years in Scotland. He made 273 appearances in all competitions, 44 of which came in his last season, and he scored 21 goals from the back. The defender won the league title eight times, as well as both the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup on four occasions.
The ex-Sweden man, who made 94 caps, went to the World Cup in Russia back in 2018. His country were knocked out of that tournament by England in the quarter final. He then made their squad for Euro 2020 before retiring from international duty a year later.
“Lustig you’re the one..” - Celtic cult hero
During his time at Celtic, the supporters used to sign a ‘Lustig you’re the one’ chant from the terraces to the tune of Atomic Kitten’s Whole Again. He said in an interview with The Celtic Way in October: “That Atomic Kitten song, I can’t listen to it without thinking of me! People say we stole it from England, who sang it about their former head coach, Gareth Southgate, but we did it in 2017. They copied us in 2018! That’s my song now, sorry Gareth!”
Lustig started out with spells as a youngster with the likes of Sandåkerns SK, Umeå FC and GIF Sundsvall. Rosenborg BK snapped him up in 2009 and he spent three years there before the Hoops came calling. The full-back left Scotland in 2019 and had spells at Gent and AIK before hanging up his boots in 2022.
Västerås SK could now see him as someone to head their return to the top flight. They have recently won promotion back to the first division after winning the Superettan title. They were relegated last year but have secured an immediate return at the first time of asking.
The Västmanland-based outfit face a battle to keep hold of manager Karlsson amid attention from AIK and Hammarby. The latter could see him as a replacement for Kim Hellberg, who has left for Middlesbrough. VSK play at the 8,900 capacity Hitachi Energy Arena.