Former Donegal manager Jim McGuinness has taken up an assistant coach’s job with a soccer club in China.
The Glenties native, who guided Donegal to All-Ireland glory in 2012, is to be assistant to Roger Schmidt Beijing Sinobo Guoan and leaves on Saturday to take up a role for which he has agreed a two-and-a-half year contract.
McGuinness had been working with Celtic since 2012, but his new post begins on Monday.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity,” he told the Irish Times. “It’s a level up for me and a great honour to be asked. Roger is a really prestigious European coach and just to be part of his management team is a great privilege. I also feel that it’s great timing in terms of taking the next step forward in my own coaching career.”
McGuinness has expressed a wish to return to Celtic at some point in the future.
He said: “In terms of Celtic, every decision that was made was with their knowledge. Dermot Desmond, in particular, was implicit in any decision made. And I’d like to think that the umbilical cord won’t be cut. Everyone in the club has been hugely supportive and hopefully I will return there someday as a better coach.”
McGuinness has been in the process of completing his coaching badges and as far back as 2015 spoke of an admiration for Schmidt, whom he described at the time as a ‘really interesting coach’.
Schmidt, the former Beyer Leverkusen manager, was confirmed as Beijing’s new manager earlier this month.
McGuinness said: “I got a text from Roger at the beginning of the summer to say he was going to be in Dublin to meet a sports firm. We met in the airport in Dublin and spent a few hours ahead of his flight to Germany and he walked me through his game plan and style of play. We just had a really good conversation. I feel that we think similarly and share core principles.”
