Ange Postecoglou

Extremely lucky, Howe is clearly a good manager, but it’s insane luck he decided he wasn’t up for the job with the way we pursued him he was the one we were desperate for Ange was backup. And I wouldn’t trade Ange for anybody at the moment, and that’s a genuine anyone, he’s taking our full club levels. Their might be better coaches at a world class level, guys with more pull etc. but I don’t think any would do the job he’s done transforming the club off the pitch.
The scouting has majorly went up, backroom team that was already their have been totally transformed and came on strides working with him, we’re at a fitness level and a level of managing injuries I’ve never seen before, he has made our * board competent, infact more than that he’s made them good, at proactive thinking and he has a level of standards he doesn’t let anybody he’s involved with fall under.

Honestly, it sounds like hyperbole but if you look at what he’s done in about a year and a half, it’s a * astonishing turnaround.

Brendan Rodgers was a world class coach, who had the same level of power when it came to the full footballing side of things, and he fobbed a very important job off to a mate in Congerton who had proved himself disastrous already at Sunderland, and trusted him and he ruined a massive part of the club, set back something we’d been building up for years - something I thought would take us a long, long time to recover from and Ange has surpassed what was there before in 18 * months. It’s insane.

 

He's even made Kennedy & Strachan liked with the support. That's jesus level miracle work.

 

Am hoping the man is here for the long term and afterwards hopefully our board doesn’t offer him a job with Celtic pools

 

Not getting Howe was a big blessing in disguise for us. Not just because we got Ange Postecoglou, but because Howe would definitely have jumped at the first job in the EPL.

 

All this praise is evidence of Ange 's work. Even I have hope for Europe next season, seeing as he brought in a trusted defensive midfielder, fixing one problem we've had. If we switch to a mid block as well, Ange will net us European football in the spring, and I'll have to say goodbye to the ghost of Neil Lennon.

 

Football is a funny and fantastic beautiful sport. Imagine if Howe came in. We would have no Kyogo, Hatate, Maeda, Jota etc etc.. Everything would be completely different. Probably successful but i am so happy that Ange is here. He changed everything with this club and even when he leave i am sure the club will continue to be as successful thanks to his incredible long term work.

 

I have no doubt howe would have done great aswel. However ange isn't just doing great, he's creating a whole new group of legends. It's been a long time since the days of larsson and Sutton. Names you'll always talk about. I can finally see this group being exactly the same. Wonderful.

 

He's defo moving on in 2-3 years I reckon but his dream has always been to play the European heavy weights from watching alongside his dad in Australia and with us he gets to do that, with a mid table EPL team he won't. I defo think the prospect of automatic qualification to this years champions league has helped...plus it's another £40m woohoo!

 

The club is being run so well at the moment - long may it continue. Well done to all.

 

L

Love this

 

Does it get better than this in true honesty?

As a football man surely Ange knows it himself that after managing Celtic will that feeling ever be the same?

He's managing a high profile club, playing in front of 60k every other week with a sensational atmosphere home or away, been allowed near free reign on and off of the pitch, in terms of recruitment etc. He's getting success at a club adored all over the world, if all goes to his plan, his philosophy, his vision, with the help and support of the board he could take this club to the next level.

So for me yes getting that big EPL, La Liga move would be attractive, but the restraints in big clubs are ridiculous, you get 3 months then your out the door no * about. Granted I think he would do well at any club, that's a credit to the fact the guy lives and breathes football, with celtic and ange the fit seems near perfect, both club and manager working together, both improving our global reputation.

I would imagine it would have to be a seriously good offer to ever pull him away.

 

I may be jumping the gun here, but for me I see Celtic as title champions once more this season.

That means CL football for us once again going into the new season.

The talk will once again turn to who we will initially play. Will they be powerhouse clubs and will we get beyond the first round playing clubs with squads that have players worth a lot more than the Celtic players ? The speculation and the feelings of apprehension will kick in but also the optimism that we will do better than expected. That is what happened this season and basically we did poorly.

Now my thinking at present is that we need to think outside the box. It really is all about the football, not how wealthy the opposition is or the market value of the players you are up against. Positive thinking is a poweful thing. Stein showed us this in 1967 against Inter-Milan.

Kjetil Knutsen at Bodo/Glimt has proved that. In fact he and Ange have a lot of similarities in how they see football, even though we lost to them home and away when we played them.

I did some reading on him and he has similar ideas to Ange. Have an extremely fit squad, play the width of the pitch up front, play attacking football based on possession and a high press and avoid playing long balls. Win back the ball quickly and go quickly in to your opponent's defensive half of the field. Have skillful players and avoid mistakes.

Knutsen also says that no matter the opposition, Bodo/Glimt will play their game and stick to their system.
Ange also has stated many times he will stick to his system of playing because it is successful.

Knutsen's players are mostly home grown Danish lads and some Dutchmen as well. He does not have the money available to buy players for big fees. Ange does not have an inclination to buy players for more than 4.5 mill at most.
The Danish market may also be a good prospect in future for players to go to Celtic, and Knutsen has obtained players that will fit his style of play, and has also sold players on for good fees and got good replacements for them in a short space of time.

Like Ange, forward planning with selling and buying avoids hiccups in the process of renewing the squad with new blood.

Now, a club like Bodo/Glimt turned heads in Europe with their good results, especially knocking out Roma FC.

I am expecting Ange and Celtic to take a few European scalps next season as well.

 

It could really depend on the draw. We create a lot of chances in Scotland and despite missing some we still score a lot. We saw in the CL this season that those chances are much harder to come by and for whatever reason we didn't put enough of them away. I predict it'll be similarly difficult regardless of our group, but I am hoping we can finish third next year and drop to the Europa.

 

Love that man!!

 

Everything Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou had to say in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Hoops taking on St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership.

Could you give us a squad update, please?

Yeah, pretty quick. Everyone's good. No issues from the weekend. Everyone is fit and available, apart from Benji [Benjamin] Siegrist, but we expect him to join full training on Monday, but everyone else is ready to go.

Just on the weekend, obviously, it was a big result for everyone at the club. I just wonder what you think it means for the guys that have recently joined the squad, and how big it is for them to get a winners medal early into their Celtic careers?

Look, I guess it's important and significant. You know, I don't think just because you've won something before, it diminishes the impact that it can have to win it again. I think for the whole group, irrespective of whether it was their first or I don't know how many Callum's (McGregor) has got, but whatever that number is, you know, they finished that game with a real drive and desire to go there again and do it again. I think it should fuel everybody. I don't think as I said, whether it's your first time up there that you should be more sort of motivated or get more belief out of it. I think every time you're there you want to be at your best and you want to make sure that in every big game of consequence that you come out a winner and you know, I think the whole group would have gained a great deal out of that game.

How has it been this week, you spoke about the importance of allowing your players to enjoy it. You described it as a bit of relief for you as a manager. Did you allow yourself to enjoy it? Have you had that chance because the games are coming around so quickly?

I did. I mean, I enjoyed Sunday. I enjoyed the day. I enjoyed the performance. I enjoyed the aftermath of it. Yeah, you're right, as I said after the game, you do get relief because you carry that, the weight of responsibility for everyone involved and you know you want the right outcome because of that. After that, I enjoyed the night. It was a quiet night for me. But I enjoyed it and I enjoyed how watching other people enjoy it, whether they were our supporters or people who were involved with the football club. We had Monday off, which allowed me some sort of family time and reflection, which was great. And I think most of the lads enjoyed having a bit of a break from everything. We were back in the building on Tuesday and preparing for Sunday's game. So it's been a normal week apart from that.

You've obviously praised your players numerous times about their qualities in terms of going again, getting back in and working hard for the next one. I guess in terms of even shortening that even further, there's no bigger motivation than the one team to have beaten you domestically this season to be the fixture up next. Does that sharpen the minds to go again?

Yeah, it wouldn't matter who the next game was against as they all came back in on Tuesday, ready to go and their training this week's been super competitive because the one thing that a game like last weekend leaves you with is they all want to be a part of it. They don't wanna miss out next time and they don't want to miss out on being part of something that could give them some special time. So irrespective of who we were playing this weekend. I had no doubt the lads would come back motivated and our training's been top-notch and very, very competitive and the boys will be ready for Sunday.





I just wonder what you have made of St Mirren as competitors this season because they beat you earlier in the campaign? You've since beaten them by a four-goal margin twice at home, although Stephen Robinson was saying yesterday he was still quite happy with their performances in those games. How have you viewed the three games as a whole?

Yeah, I think they've had a really strong season. You can see that with where they are in the table. And they've got really strong home form, which I think has given them the edge over other sides and they're pretty consistent in the way they play and the way they set up and because of that, I think the players are really comfortable with with the system they play. It is like every other game for us, it still comes down to the way we deal with the challenge before us. Come Sunday, we'll be ready for that.

We were speaking to Reo Hatate after his Player of the Month award. He talks a lot about how he constantly wants to improve. You've mentioned the fact that Gavin Strachan is tracking after every game wanting him to improve. We can see his quality on the pitch as well and when you total all of that up is he a real dream to work with as a manager?

Yeah, Reo is very determined to be the best footballer can be. He's not on his own though. Like I think this whole group has those characteristics and I think that helps somebody like Reo because he's coming to an environment that suits that mindset. Sometimes you can have that mindset but you go into an environment that doesn't allow that to nourish but here, he's walked into an environment where he's got like-minded people around him who also want to be the best they can be. They are a very ambitious group. The group collectively is ambitious. The coaching staff is ambitious and so I think guys like Reo can thrive within that. And you know, I think it's fair to say he came in last year in January and he made an impact straight away. There's no doubt that the first six months were going to be tough for him. Coming off a J1 League season. But this year, after a good pre-season for him, he's been really strong all year and he's obviously found another level, I think since probably the World Cup break and you know my belief that there's another couple of levels in him at least and knowing Reo his mindset is that he'll definitely get there.

Sticking with Reo, I think you mentioned during the World Cup that if there's one area to improve his game it would be to increase his numbers in the final third, the assists and goals. He's certainly done that in recent months. How has he, from your perspective, gone about doing that?

Again, I think he is constantly working on aspects of his game that he thinks he needs to be better at and the feedback we give him so whatever that feedback is, then he'll take that on board and go and work on them in training. I mean, there are no magic formulas here. It's not about flicking a switch, it's just hard work and he's prepared to put that hard work in. And also understand and receive feedback in the right way. Sometimes with players, you give them the feedback and they don't really address the areas they need to address because sometimes it's easier to fall back on what you're already good at. He's constantly looking for gaps that there may be in his game, and then our role is to give him the right kind of feedback to go and work out it. He goes and works at it. He just works really hard at it and has a real focus on it. And that's why I think whatever level he reaches by the end of this year. He'll come back in pre-season next year looking to take his game to the next level and our role within that is to guide him in the right way.

Can I ask you about another player, Mikey Johnston, who looks to be in line for a call-up to the Republic of Ireland? That is good news for him. Do you think he can come back and contribute at the end of his loan spell as well?

Yeah, I mean, look in terms of his international football Mikey has made that decision and I'm sure he's given that plenty of thought, especially with the people around him. I think international football is fantastic and part of a footballer's career. It gives you new experiences and different experiences. It allows you maybe to take your game to another level as well because of the different kind of context international football brings. And yeah, hopefully for him that that gives him all those things that he'll l be looking for in his career. In terms of beyond that, he's playing more regularly now and we needed him to play more football and he's doing that and come to the end of the year, we'll assess all of that and decide what the best thing is for his future.




Another thing that's clear in your vision is focusing on the task at hand and nothing else. Is that level of player focus something that you aim to cultivate in a group or is it something you're able to recognize in a player when recruiting?

A little bit of both. I think you know you're kind of hoping when you bring footballers into the club that you never lose sight of the fact that they're people first and foremost. So what kind of people are they? Will they fit the environment? You're not making a judgment call about whether they are a good or bad person because all of us are all human beings. We all make mistakes. You'll do things, some things well and others not but is the character and the personality gonna fit into what you've already got existing here and we've tried to create is an environment where there is a real focus on what's important for for us as a group every week. What's important is knowing the expectations of this football club and that whatever the next game is that you're at your best. You can't be anything less than that. So you know, I think from the moment guys walk in here they understand that they don't look too far ahead. Hopefully, I've identified, you know the kind of characters and personalities that fit into that. Hopefully but never seamlessly because like I said, they've all got different upbringings and different personalities but within the broader context they understand and can thrive in that sort of environment I just think it's too easy to throw it away as a cliche and say,you take it game by game, week by week. People use it as a throwaway line, but the reality is that's what you need to do. That's what gives you success at a football club like this. Because the one thing you don't want to do at this football club is be at anything less than your best and not deliver. And say, well, you know what, I've got a big game next week, so I was focused on that. That's not going to work here. If you want to be successful and you know that's something that we talk about constantly and to be fair, the players drive themselves now.







Is it important to emphasise to the players how much the club means to the fans?

I think that's a little bit about it. I'm not one to force these kinds of things. I think people figured out pretty quickly I wasn't going tell our supporters how they should feel about us and our performances and I certainly don't tell the players how they should feel about our support. You know the kind of the perfect sort of scenario is that as you said, there's a synergy there that both are working as one and understand from my perspective, I think I had the clearest indications really early on that the supporters, while they are very demanding in terms of the success they also are pretty clear about what they want to see when their football team plays and I think they saw that fairly early on in my tenure. And I think the players that I bought to the club, I think there was certainly an acknowledgement from the supporters that OK, we'll give you a little bit of time for results but you know, at least we can see that. I've got to bring the results as well and I think from there it's grown, you know, and you can see that in the way as the players respond to our supporters and the way the supporters respond to the players. And I think that the game day experience, everyone is rolling the same way,whether things are going really well for us on the field or maybe it's a little bit of a period in the game, there might be a grind you get the sense that the supporters and the and the players are really sort of understanding that if we stick to to the things that are important to us, we'll find our way through. I think you sensed that on Sunday that even through the sort of the patch where we things we had to grind things out we did that and our supporters were right behind us through that time. And I think it happens naturally when there's an alignment there of the vision that we have.








Thoughts on player's game management?

I mean they have to because as I said for me the game is about the players. My role and the staff's role is to try and prepare them as best as we can during the week and give them as much information. But once the game starts, it's really down to them and I think if you look at their performances over the last 18 months and their ability to play in the big games, particularly domestically, then you can see that they are growing and sort of taking more and more responsibility out there. But yeah that that doesn't mean you get to a point where you know that they make all the decisions out there in terms of the way we play because ultimately we still gotta have a structure that we rely on so. Like I said, for me on the weekend, they felt the need to adjust the way we played for a period of time and they have that sort of autonomy for me to do that. My role then is to give them the feedback that could we have even done things even better? As I said, my role in the staff role is to give them as many tools out there so that when they need to make decisions, they have the answers in their toolkit rather than sort of looking for us for answers in the game.

 

Ange Postecoglou reckons his Celtic side have not even begun to peak despite a great run of form.

The Scottish champions are currently nine points clear at the top of the league table, in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup and also recently retained the League Cup recently against Rangers at Hampden.

However, despite being in a commanding position, the ex-Socceroos coach feels more progress can still be made.

Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "We started the season really strongly and we only dropped one game. I think our performances and the way we're going about things have improved since the break.

"In second-half of the year and we want play our best football now and finish the season strong. And if we do that, it gives us a great foundation for next year.

"If you look at the overall age and profiles of our players very few are at that peak age. Most of them have got that ahead of them and you know our role within that is to try and get them to be the best they can be."