Ange Postecoglou

Feel like it will never be better than it is right now. Even though we still haven’t got through a knockout stage in Europe we definitely improved last season. But I feel another manager could come in and win us the league and get us through a EL knockout stage and get the monkey off our back but the football and togetherness etc still won’t be like it is under Ange. Probably said the same thing under Rodgers right enough

Thought of Kyogo, Jota and Hatate playing elsewhere is seriously depressing. Wasn’t really too arsed about Eddy at all and didn’t care too much about Dembele going.

 

Funny ange talks about still got a gear or two to step up. Personally, I thought the same last Sunday. Apart from a chaotic 10-15 when they got back into it.. felt we still could have found a few more levels

 

They're only hope of even getting a draw with us right now is if we dont play well. If we play even close to our abilities then we beat them every single time we play them. It doesnt actually matter how well they play. If we turn up on the day then we beat them....its that simple....and they know it

There will be a game when we excell....and play out our skin.....even better than usual......if and when that happens we will take a cricket score off them.......its coming believe me

 

I agree they're due another hammering off us this season. We play them at home a month from now, can't see why we wouldn't put a few past them. They're no better under Beale than when we hammered them at the start of the season.

 

I agree. Apologies for my mistake also - Bodo /Glimt are a Norwegian club, not Danish as I wrote.

 

CELTIC manager Ange Postecoglou says he will never hit the heights that the legendary Jock Stein did at the club, and that he places himself behind the likes of Martin O’Neill, Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon in the pantheon of great Celtic bosses.

Singer and Celtic fanatic Rod Stewart sparked a debate this week about Postecoglou’s standing in the club’s history when he proclaimed that the Australian was ‘up there with Stein’ after securing the third trophy of his managerial reign with Sunday’s League Cup Final win over Rangers.

But while Postecoglou was humbled by Stewart’s remarks, he has dismissed any notion he has earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as European Cup winner Stein just yet.



That is very kind of Rod and I know he is a passionate Celtic man, but I will give you the brief here; I will never reach the levels of Jock Stein or Martin,” Postecoglou said.

“Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon, these guys, they have had unbelievable success at this football club. It is almost impossible to replicate.

“I won a trophy at the weekend and after it I was interviewed by Gordon Strachan, so I know my place and I am more than happy with that.

“My role here is to contribute and hopefully continue to bring success to this club. Hopefully when I am gone, I have left my own mark, and I will be more than comfortable with that.”

Postecoglou told Strachan after Sunday’s win that he felt as much relief as joy when the final whistle went at Hampden, given the responsibility he feels to the club and its fans.




It is a combination of both,” he said.

“There is always an element of relief for any manager because you carry a weight of responsibility not just for the players and the staff but also the people who represent the football club - the supporters.

“There is relief as well as enjoyment and it is important you try to enjoy your success, because what you do know is that when the celebrating stops you have to go again, and there has to be a reason to go again.

“I enjoyed the day, I enjoyed the night after, and I enjoyed the way it made our supporters feel and how the players enjoyed the success. Beyond that, you move on.”








TELEVISION audiences in the UK used to love a good old Australian soap opera, but it seems that the feeling isn’t entirely reciprocated. At least, not from Ange Postecoglou’s point of view.

The Celtic manager was entirely unmoved by comments from his former player Josip Juranovic this week, who admitted that he was ‘sad’ that the club hadn’t tried harder to keep him in Glasgow ahead of his January move to Union Berlin.

While Postecoglou wishes Juranovic well, his response to the full-back’s complaints evoked memories of his famous retort about where Michael Beale’s appointment as Rangers manager ranked in his list of priorities. “Registering somewhere below what I am having for dinner tonight,” he said at the time, in case you had forgotten.




If anything, his swatting aside of Juranovic’s remarks was even more disdainful.

“I don’t really care to be honest,” Postecoglou said.

“Josip was outstanding for us for 18 months. He won trophies and represented his country at a World Cup. Now he has gone on and he is doing fantastically well, and I couldn’t be happier for him.

“We continue on our journey now. The rest of it is just a soap opera for the masses.”

Juranovic’s bugbear seemed to be that Celtic had signed Canadian right-back Alistair Johnston while the pair were representing their respective countries at the World Cup. From the outside, it seemed to be sensible succession planning, with Juranovic long linked with a move away from Glasgow. In the Croatian’s account, Johnston’s arrival in fact pushed him towards that exit door.

Whatever the true course of events, Johnston’s quickfire acclimatisation to his new surroundings has undoubtedly softened the blow of Juranovic’s departure.

“We are a football club that is consistently trying to be successful,” Postecoglou said.

“I said previously that we have got to be really aggressive in the way that we push this squad to another level because we still believe we need to improve and get better, and the only way you can do that is to make sure that you are constantly looking to improve and reinvest in the squad.

“From our perspective, there are players who left in January after contributing to this football club and that is all we want. They have gone on with our best wishes, but my role is to reinvest that money and to try to make us a stronger team.

“It is fair to say most of our players when they come in, have settled in. This time last year we brought in Reo (Hatate) and Daizen (Maeda) and Matty O’Riley, and I don’t think they done too badly.




“The process for us is checking that we bring in guys who fit in with our football and have the right character, and Alistair certainly fits that bracket.

“He has hit the ground running and he got an opportunity earlier than we thought because Tony Ralston went down with an injury, and so his opportunity came, albeit that we had had a good two weeks with him in Portugal before the season started again and he was able to train with the team.

“A bit like the guys last January who have all kicked on since coming in, we are confident this will just be the first steps in his Celtic career.”

The Celtic players were given Monday off to sleep off their post League Cup Final celebrations, but were back at Lennoxtown on Tuesday to prepare for a tough away fixture tomorrow against St Mirren.

The SMiSA Stadium is the only venue where they have lost domestically this season, and in fact, it is the only stadium in the Premiership where Postecoglou himself has yet to register a victory. Or a goal, for that matter.

As far as the aberration in September is concerned, which came off the back of an away Champions League draw with Shakhtar Donetsk in Warsaw, the Celtic manager doesn’t think that 2-0 reverse will hold any psychological scars for his players.

“It is not the way I look at it,” he said.

“If you look at the last game and look at the line-ups and where we were in the season, there was a fairly logical explanation for that.

“We didn’t play well, they did, and we paid a price. We analysed that performance and we dealt with it, and we have improved since. Beyond that I don’t buy into anything else around it. I wouldn’t be seeing any kind of trend.”

It is fair to say that anyone who saw that game would not have predicted the impact that Aaron Mooy would go on to make for Celtic, the midfielder lasting just 45 minutes before being substituted in his first league start for the club.

“Again, with Aaron, there is a pretty logical explanation for that day too,” Postecoglou explained.

“I said at the time, he was nowhere near the fitness levels he needed to be, and he had to go away and really work on that, and we worked with him on that. It is fair to say he kicked on from there.”

Postecoglou certainly isn’t expecting any lingering hangover from Sunday’s festivities to affect the hunger within his squad for an afternoon’s graft in Paisley.

He added: “I think for the guys who got their first experience of a Celtic Cup final, I just think it is always good, whether it is your first one or whether you are like Callum (McGregor) who has done it so many times, whatever it is the most important thing is that you come out of it with the hunger and desire to go back and do it again and again. That is the main thing.

“That shouldn’t be diminished if you have done it before. Every time you go there and win a game like that it should provide the hunger and drive to keep going. I am sure it will have had that impact on the whole group.

 

Ange will leave this club a modern Jock Stein

 

If he stays long enough, absolutely.

 

I know what you mean. You get emotionally invested in many of the players and you want to see the club go to further victories with those same lads, especially in the CL games. It's like you are there with them, connected with the players in that way on the same journey. Not the same if you are seeing new players coming in and your favourites are going out to newer pastures. Felt that way about JJ, not so much about GG. It all went sour for me with GG that day when he took the ball away from JJ to take the last minute penalty against Livi at home and his lazy effort failed to score. A win would have taken us to top of the ladder.

I feel connected to Ralston and look forward to seeing him get on to the pitch each week we play, the guy gives 100% each time he plays. He is one who needs an extended run to be at his best.
I have this same connection with Kyogo, Cameron CV and Taylor and would hate to see them move on. I would not like to see anyone move on. I want them to share their Celtic victories mutually with us the fans as well.

 

I never tire of listening to him..

Been managers i can't even stomach like the rat before he revealed his snakey self. Lennon used to bore me a bit. Deila couldn't be arsed. Could go on. Strachan used to be alright for a bit but then would leave you scratching your head at what the * he was going on about..

 

He's a leader, no more linguistics required

 

He will leave a leader, a legend and loved.

But cmon mate, a season and a half doesn't equate to Jock. * behave.

 

Aye mate. You really feel like he's came in and one of us. Takes zero *..

I remember * in the media trying to get him to go at our support after the Queen snuffed it/our applause in Paisley lol and he wouldn't have a bar of it..

He runs everything and no one can get near him..

Our leader alright. Love the guy

 

I love him so much

 

Is he leaving right now?

He will make history before leaving Celtic and will be a modern Jock Stein. He will surpass Rodgers and MON.

 

Eddie Howe can bite ma bawz

 

Martin O'Neil took us to a European final and made Celtic park a fortress in Europe. Gordon Strachan qualified for the knockout stages of the champions league twice. Both also won numerous titles and trophies whilst up against a financial doped huns. The rat won an invincible treble and every domestic trophy available in his tenure. All monumental moments in the cubs history.

What, in your opinion, will Ange do that will surpass these achievements?

 

Never been a manager in the whole of my lifetime I’ve had so much respect for. Maybe Alec Ferguson but Ange is even above him for me.

Hard to put into words how much I appreciate this man.

 

People were making similar comparisons involving Rodgers prior to his unexpected departure. No need to overreact mate. Ange has done a phenomenal job, but Jock Stein won the European Cup (= modern-day Champions League). MON led us to a european final. It's hard to beat these achievements.

 

8th April..