Bilic 'focused on Croatia', not Bhoys

02 June 2009 08:08
Bilic's agent revealed last week that the former Everton defender is keen to discuss the possibility of replacing Gordon Strachan at Parkhead. Strachan stepped down at the end of the SPL season and a string of names have been linked with the job. However, Bilic is unlikely to be taking over the Old Firm giants after the Croatian Football Federation confirmed it does not wants to lose its coach. "Slaven is in the base camp preparing for our World Cup qualifier against Ukraine on Saturday and he is totally focused on that," federation spokesman Davor Gavran said in the Daily Record. "He has been connected with a number of top jobs in the past, but his intention is to stay with the national team to reach the World Cup finals. "He won't quit until the end of the qualifying campaign and we hope he'll still be here for the finals and beyond." Roberto Martinez is currently the leading contender after Celtic made an approach to Swansea City, which was knocked back by the Championship club. Former Celtic players Mark McGhee and Tony Mowbray are also in the running for the job, although previous favourite Owen Coyle has pledged his future to Burnley.

Source: Team_Talk