By Wayne Veysey

1st Mar, 2021 | 4:00pm

Sources: Penrice set to leave Celtic at end of season as exodus intensifies

Celtic recruitment chief Gary Penrice is in line to follow Nick Hammond out of the exit door at the end of the season, Football Insider can reveal.

The site broke the news in January that Hammond’s position as director of football operations was under “major threat”.

A Celtic source has told Football Insider that Penrice’s position at the club is also “hanging by a thread” on the back of a calamitous campaign.

Former Everton scout Penrice, 56, was appointed head of recruitment at Celtic in April of last year.

It was a position previously filled at the club by Lee Congerton, before he left to re-join Brendan Rodgers at Leicester City.

Penrice was brought in to work under Hammond, who was appointed director of football operations in October 2019 after working as a consultant for Celtic during the previous summer transfer window.

But most of the major signings have flopped badly this season, especially the summer-of-2020 headline arrivals Albian Ajeti, Shane Duffy and Vasilios Barkas.

David Turnbull has been a success but that deal is unlikely to be enough to keep Penrice and Hammond in their jobs.

The experienced talent-spotters are set to leave as part of a wide-ranging overhaul in the playing, management, coaching and executive staffs.

Neil Lennon resigned before he was sacked last week and chief executive Peter Lawwell leaves at the end of the season, a departure also first revealed by Football Insider.

In other news, Danny Mills drops an intriguing new Celtic manager update from his own sources.