Shaun Maloney insisted being Celtic manager on a permanent basis was not on his radar after taking the reins alongside Martin O'Neill on an interim basis.
The 42-year-old has been temporarily promoted from his role as player pathways manager following the departure of manager Brendan Rodgers and assistant John Kennedy.
But the former Celtic and Scotland midfielder intends to return to his backroom role when a permanent boss is appointed.
Maloney stressed becoming the manager was not a goal, saying he was "nowhere near anything short-term or long-term at the moment".
"I came back here in a role really with the board, and then Brendan," he said.
"So at this present time, no. I’m going to try my best to support Martin and the players but I’m very similar to Martin, to be interim and then I’ll go back to my role."
Maloney began his coaching career at Celtic under Rodgers before leaving for a role as Belgium assistant head coach and then spells as manager of Hibernian and Wigan.
He described his relationship with the departed boss as "really positive".
"He gave me my first coaching job seven, eight years ago," Maloney added. "So, extremely grateful to him for that.
"I stayed in contact with him as I had different jobs. And being back here for the last three or four months, it picked up pretty much exactly where it was. My experience of him is as a brilliant guy, brilliant coach, extremely successful here."
Maloney took training on Tuesday with his remit to lift the players ahead of Wednesday’s visit of Falkirk following successive league defeats and the departure of Rodgers and Kennedy.
"It was a turbulent day, traumatic day really, for everyone, not just at the stadium but the training ground," he said. "So, as expected, it was a tough morning.
"I was in a very different role. As best I could, with the other staff, after speaking with Martin, it was just really trying to bring them stability, a little bit of normality in terms of preparations for the game.
"Look, it’s really difficult. The club have lost some brilliant people. That happens in football but you know really quickly, you have to turn that around."
