Albion manager Mark McGhee today played down reports linking him with a return to Celtic as Gordon Strachan's righthand man.

McGhee says his close friend and former Aberdeen team-mate has not raised the subject of the pair joining forces at Parkhead.

Strachan will be unveiled as Celtic's new manager next Tuesday following Martin O'Neill's resignation yesterday.

O'Neill is leaving after Saturday's Scottish Cup final against Dundee United to spend time with his wife Geraldine, who is suffering from lymphoma.

Strachan has to put a backroom team in place quickly, as O'Neill's lieutenants John Robertson and Steve Walford are also leaving Parkhead.

Reports north of the border have linked Glasgow-born McGhee with a return to Celtic, where he won two championship and two Scottish Cup medals as a player from 1985 to 1989.

McGhee and Strachan helped Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen to European Cup Winners' Cup glory in 1983.

They have remained big pals, together with Glasgow Rangers manager Alex McLeish, but McGhee, who has just signed a new two-year contract with Albion, revealed today: "It's never been a question.

"In the last week or so that Gordon was thinking about taking a job, I didn't know until the weekend that it looked like it was going to be the Celtic job.

"I've had no discussions with Gordon regarding me being his assistant, end of story."

Strachan is expected to take Gary Pendrey to Parkhead as his assistant. Pendrey was his second in command at both Coventry and Southampton.

Speculation linking McGhee with Strachan is likely to continue over the weekend, when they will be together in Cardiff.

Strachan will be watching his son, Gavin, playing for Hartlepool on Sunday in the League One play-off final against Sheffield Wednesday as they compete for the right to face Albion in the Championship next season.

McGhee is Sky TV's studio guest for the match, having masterminded the Seagulls' success in the corresponding fixture last season.