Sources: Celtic pursuit of duo runs cold as Desmond stance revealed
The dwindling chances of Eddie Howe landing the Celtic job are likely to depend upon him accepting the job without ally Richard Hughes, Football Insider understands.
The Hoops want to appoint Man City's Fergal Harkin as their director of football and that has remained the case since this site revealed on 20th March that a deal was "90 per cent done".
A Celtic source has told Football Insider that the club are wary of appointing Bournemouth technical director Hughes after Nick Hammond's wretched rein.
Hammond was dismissed as football operations chief last month and is set to be followed through the exit door by head of recruitment Gary Penrice and talent spotters Mick Doherty and John Murphy.
Celtic appointed former goalkeeper Hammond even though he had presided over relegations at Reading and West Brom.
Howe made it clear during talks with Celtic he wanted Hughes to join him at Parkhead in the sporting director role, effectively the post earmarked for Harkin.
But the Glasgow giants have assessed Hughes' recruitment record at Bournemouth in light of their Premier League relegation last season and it does not stand up to close scrutiny.
The reluctance to agree to Howe's demands could put paid to any chance of reviving talks at the end of the season.
Celtic powerbrokers led by majority shareholder Desmond are demanding a big improvement in recruitment following some dreadful signings in recent seasons.
The Englishman has said he will wait until the summer before agreeing a return to management.
The former Bournemouth boss reached a verbal agreement with Celtic following talks in London at the turn of the month before having second thoughts.