Football: Celtic may lose Jansen in June

WIM JANSEN, who has steered Celtic into a strong position to win their first Scottish League title since 1988, admitted last night that he has still to decide whether to commit his long-term future to the Glasgow club.

In an interview on the club's official news phoneline, the Dutchman, who has been linked with the job of managing Liverpool, confirmed there is a clause in his contract that enables him to leave in June or the club to terminate his three-year deal after just one year, without compensation.

When asked outright whether he wanted to stay with the club, Jansen refused to pledge himself to remaining long-term. He said: "I cannot tell you at this moment. I am still thinking about what I want to do. Hopefully everybody can understand that it is not clear for myself at this moment and I don't want to speak about it to anybody, I just want to tell the people at Celtic yes or no."

Suggestions all was not well first emerged earlier this season when there were reports of a rift between himself and the general manager, Jock Brown. These were quickly played down with Brown admitting the pair "would never be drinking partners" but were able to work together. Jansen admitted disappointment at the dismissal of the assistant general manager, David Hay, who performed a scouting role.

On Sunday, Brown played down newspaper reports that Jansen was poised to leave in summer, and last night, Jansen said he "felt wanted" at the club and expressed the hope any indecision about his future plans would not unsettle the team.