Celtic are still viewed as one of Greater Manchester’s top clubs, on and off the field, yet it’s almost 20 years since they last won a trophy. The current season is the first in seven that they haven’t been involved in a relegation fight. Financially, life is a struggle.
Gorski believes Haworth — who proved his abilities at Clitheroe — is gradually turning things round at Bower Fold. Rather than risk him being poached by another club, possibly from a higher level, he has decided to act at once to keep him at Celtic.
The chairman explained: “The timing is a bit unfortunate given that we’ve had a poor start to 2020, but Simon’s an all-round package for us as first-team manager.
“When we went away from Ewen Fields on Boxing Day we were fourth in the table having blitzed Hyde in the first half. Everything looked fantastic.
“Things have tailed off since the start of the year but I think if you’d asked the fans back in August would they have taken ninth place with a sniff of the play-offs they would have snapped your hand off.
“If performance was conditional on budget we would be in the bottom six, so even though it’s been tough since Boxing Day Simon has done a great job.
“He’s doing a great job with the academy, where he’s full time. He’s also very smart commercially and has built great relationships with Burnley, Preston and even Manchester United.
“Simon ticks the box commercially, he ticks the box with the academy and, although not as much as we would have liked, we’ve definitely made progress with the first team as well.”