Ange Postecoglou

He seems in much better spirits the last few weeks

 

IT has now been 500 days since Ange Postecoglou became manager of Celtic. At times, he feels it has flown by. At others, the Celtic manager has felt every minute of it. But the only thing that is certain is that he wouldn’t have swapped it for the world.

As milestones go it isn’t the most notable, granted, but given where he started from – and the many doom-mongering predictions of how his appointment might unfold at the time – it is one that still prompts a feeling of satisfaction from Postecoglou as he takes the rare chance to reflect on his Celtic journey so far.




It has been one that has been mainly marked by success, with a Premiership and League Cup double in his first season setting the benchmark by which his on-pitch performance will be measured. Personally though, he views his own success as something wider, being cognisant of his role as the club’s main representative.

“Sometimes it feels like 500 minutes and other times it feels like 500 days depending on where we are at,” Postecoglou said.


“Look, I’ve enjoyed every day of it. There hasn’t been a day where I haven’t enjoyed being in the role.

“From my perspective, when you are not counting the days, it probably means you are enjoying what you are doing and you are still passionate about what you have embarked on.

“I’ve had a fantastic time at the club and everyone is working really hard to get the club back to where it should be and we still have some work to do, but I’ve enjoyed the first part of it.

“You understand you have a greater responsibility than just sort of getting a team ready for the weekend, even though that’s the most important thing.

“In many ways, you are a spokesman for the football club and you can have an impact in so many ways. I guess that that’s what makes it interesting and I have enjoyed that aspect of it.

“I have tried to embrace the whole role as the manager of the club and embraced the role of the responsibility I have.




“Because of that I guess, you have to accept there are going to be different challenges every day, but, again, nothing I have felt uncomfortable doing or haven’t felt good about.

“I’ve felt that, whatever I am doing, I am representing this club and to me that is great.”

That being said, he was also keenly aware that only success in terms of silverware would keep him in the job he was waiting for his whole career, and that too will be the thing that keeps him there – or otherwise – going forward.

“I was well aware coming in when I did after an unsuccessful year that, like every manager, we all have a clock ticking against us,” he said. “It’s just how long people will give us time to build what we want.

“I was conscious that I had to do things pretty quickly and I wanted to do them quickly, but at the same time, you can’t rush things. You have to get decisions right.

“I’ve been really pleased with the progress not just on the field but off it with what we are trying to create here, whether that be at Lennoxtown or Celtic Park.

“I think we are building some really good foundations for what we want to do for the next phase. Again, I enjoy that part of the role. The initial stages, the building.

“I am pleased we were able to deliver in our first year and the plan is that, hopefully, we can deliver more in the year coming.”




It is often said that at Celtic, you are only ever one loss away from a crisis, and Postecoglou knows that too. But that doesn’t stop him trying to lay some long-term foundations while still aiming for short-term success.

“I’ve said before, I kind of take every role as if I’m going to here forever knowing full well that I won’t be because some of that is taken out of your hands,” he said.

“But I always try to make decisions that puts the club in the best position not just for short-term success, but also long-term success.

“That’s what I mean about not just on the field, but off it. I’m really proud of the foundations that have been put down in all the departments in terms of resources and people that we have brought in. I think the club is in a really good place.”

Postecoglou takes his team to Tynecastle at lunchtime today, and as well as contending with the always raucous atmosphere and a Hearts team he feels will be a wounded animal after a poor recent run of form, his team will also play under the watchful eye of VAR for the first time on the domestic scene.

It may not be a surprise to hear that he is rather more concerned with how his team handles the first two concerns on that list, rather than the last one.

“I don’t spend too much time thinking about it,” he said.

“I know everyone is excited by it, but I don’t get that excited by the introduction of VAR.

“It’s there as a tool to help referees. I think it is more exciting for the referees, I guess. But it has no effect on me, or the way we play, or the way I coach.




“A success for me would be that we don’t need to use it because the referees are catching everything. If we do need to use it, hopefully, it is used in the right way.

“But, like I said, I have had experience with it and I’m not really that sort of excited by the introduction here.

“I’ve said before, it needs to be introduced because everyone other league in the world has got it and every other competition, so we just need to get it in and get on with it.”

 

Big Ange has assembled a fantastic squad of talented players to fit his system.My fav player changes from game to game.Now the big man has already targeted new Jan signings to add to this squad....absolutely mouth watering.
We never stop HH.

 

Call it out right now Ange, when we've won..

No * about..

 

Can't tell you how pleased I am to see Ange finally rotating players in a sensible manner. Unsure why it took us so long to get to this point, but it can only be to the good to make the most of our depth.

 

I was criticising him for the heavy rotations he done in the match thread, but truth be told, we should have been going into half-time 2-0, or at least 2-1 up, if the officials done their job properly. At 2-0 we go on and win comfortably.

 

Not happy that he's said nowt, shat it when he should have said something.

Poor interview, fk bans, who cares.

 

Had jenz got sent off I reckon more would have been said. I suspect he’s holding back a bit.

 

Clearly a man who thought that VAR and the ref were trying to rob us today.

 

They said he'd be gone by Christmas.

He will not do a thing in Scottish football.

Well around 16 months later, Ange has seen off Slippy G and could be about to see off Giofanny.

This guy is The Boss, he's an unbelievable manager and we are blessed to have him at our club.

We Never Stop!!!

 

Never seen him react like that at full time, even kissed jacko on the head! Big man knows the score we will be cuter for today btw!

 

First time he’s really called out the refs, even without VAR Walsh was looking right at the handball and never went for a 2nd look. After McLean’s performance last week I think he’s fully realised now what we’re up against.

 

ANGE POSTECOGLOU would not say no to a Champions League win on Tuesday evening as Celtic prepare for their final home game of Group F against Shakhtar Donetsk, a campaign that so far has delivered just a solitary point. However, the Greek-Australian has maintained that Celtic do not need the endorsement of three points to prove their worthiness of being in Europe’s premier competition.

The Greek-Australian was irked at two things in the aftermath of a dispiriting European campaign for Scottish teams; that Celtic were lumped in with the collective to paint an embarrassing picture and that the performance levels were not taken into account against some formidable opposition.




I still don’t feel like we need validation,” said Postecoglou. “I think we have seen enough that playing football the way we do, you can make an impact and be competitive even against the very best. But there is no doubt that the thing we have been lacking so far is goals, we have not been taking our chances and getting wins. There is no greater remedy to that than actually going out and doing it.”


The likelihood of Celtic requiring passports beyond Christmas is remote. Even a win over Shakhtar on Tuesday would still require the Parkhead side to take something from their concluding game in Madrid next month with all sorts of other permutations around Shakhtar’s meeting with Leipzig. For Postecoglou, though, measuring the club’s maturity in European competition is not only by charting the points gained from their first exposure to Champions League football since 2017.

“Our goal was to make an impact in the group first of all and then see where that took us. Obviously we can’t now progress in the competition but there is still a window to play on.

I think what is more important for us is that we play our football against a very good team.

“They [Shakhtar] have taken points off the other teams in the group so it is not like it is going to be an easy game for us, far from it. It will be a really challenging game and we are going to have to be at our best if we want to get anything out of the game. If we do get something out of it, if we get a win, then it keeps our hopes alive and that is the first thing we need to do.”




The narrative that has ran through Celtic’s Champions League campaign has been a failure to take their chances. There has been a laudable boldness about Celtic’s approach – even against Real Madrid there was an aggression and purpose to the Parkhead side for an hour of the contest – but the undoing has been a profligacy in front of goal. Against elite opposition that inability to show a clinical edge has been wounding, all the more so when consideration is given to the cheapness of some of the goals conceded in the tournament.

“Our supporters have been brilliant through the campaign and obviously they will be disappointed as well that we haven’t been able to make more of an impact in our group but I think they have appreciated the way we have gone about it,” said Postecoglou. “But the rewards we want is to be winning games of football in what is the toughest club competition in the world.

“So we are at home on Tuesday and that is the opportunity that is before us. I think it would be great reward for the players and our supporters for our efforts. As I said, we have gone close and we have certainly competed well. We have just lacked the cutting edge which has cost us.”


The game in Poland against Shakhtar is arguably the result that will irk Celtic the most when the time comes to reflect on the campaign as a whole. They left Warsaw with a point but it should have been three, a result that would have altered the complexion of the group. In the aftermath of that night a UEFA translator bore the brunt of Postecoglou’s frustration with his annoyance at the way the game played out evident in the shortness of temper that the linguist was on the end of.

“Yeah, I thought it was a missed opportunity,” said the Celtic manager. “We started the game really well and got in front. They got a goal from a counter attack and we know that is kind of their strength but I thought we got back to grips with the game, particularly in the second half and dominated the last half hour.

“We had some really good chances and you know at this level, as we have certainly found out, there are fine margins between getting a result and not getting a result. While obviously getting a point away from home in the Champions League is still a good result, we felt leaving there we may have let a win go and that was disappointing for us.”

More encouragingly for Postecoglou has been the recent performances of Matt O’Riley who has adapted to Callum McGregor’s role in the Celtic midfield. The Parkhead captain is not expected to be fit before the World Cup next month with O’Riley filling the void.




We always feel we are a better side with a technical player in there and Matty certainly is that,” said Postecoglou. “I have been really impressed with him, he is a mature young man and he has taken all the information on board. It is isn’t only what he is doing with the ball, from a defensive point of view he is working really hard for the team.

“It is a credit to him. We knew we had picked up a talented footballer but he is also a young man who wants to get better and take his football to another level. This has been a new challenge for him but he has taken it on board really well.”

 

Didn’t think we needed that many changes again. Thought it was St Mirren all over again when it went 2-1 Hearts. We weren’t great but 3 points in the bag. If we continue to rest players for big away games points will be dropped though.

 

Tough away grounds can't have to many changes

 

ANGE POSTECOGLOU has given fans an insight into the process that saw him appointed manager at Parkhead last year.

The Celtic boss had just been knocked back from Greek side AEK Athens as he looked to launch his career into Europe.

The Hoops at the time had been chasing Eddie Howe but talks broke down reportedly due to complications over backroom staff.

With Postecoglou more than happy to arrive in Glasgow all by himself Dermot Desmond was left incredibly keen to have him as an alternative - so much so it left the Aussie in disbelief.

That call looks to have been more than vindicated too - with the Parkhead faithful rallying behind their boss as they won the Premiership title in his debut season.

Speaking recently to Australian media Postecoglou opened up on the conversations that led to his appointment.

He revealed he was taken aback by how much research Desmond and the club had looked into - and how quickly he became comfortable with the idea of the job.

The talks were so positive the manager admitted he wondered 'what the * was going on?' after talking with Desmond as well as other senior member of the Parkhead boardroom.

He told The Howie Games Podcast: "I've logged on the call and spoken with Dermot Desmond.

"We had a great discussion, he's a great man, he kind of knew all about me which gave me some reassurance. I got comfortable really quickly.

"They had done their research, not just about me as a manager, but the way I played my football, which was really important to me.

"But we hit it off really well. We had about a 30-40 minute conversation and he signs off by saying: 'Brilliant, love it, hang-up I'm going to set up a call with our CEO and our chairman in ten minutes time. We'll send you the link and you chat to them. If they're happy, I'm happy.'

"Now I've gone off the call, right? Georgia's come in, she's trying to grab Max and Alexi they're running around, she's trying to get dinner organised.

"She comes in and asks 'what happened?' and I go: 'look I might have this totally wrong, but I think we have a chance here.'

"She says 'really?' and I go: 'Unless I'm totally out of the loop here I think there's something going on.'

"In the meantime Frank (Trimboli) called me to ask what's going on and I went: 'Mate I think it went well, he wants me to talk to the CEO.'

"As soon as I said CEO he hung-up on me, because he's then making his calls to see what's going on.

"Within ten minutes I had the hook-up with the CEO and the chairman. Again, I had a really good discussion with them, even less time, probably about 20 minutes.


"They kind of again signed off with: 'I can see why Dermot really likes you and we think you're the right man. We'll speak to Frank and we'll get this going.

"And again I've just closed the computer and I've gone: 'What the * is going on mate?'

"This is Celtic, this is one of the biggest, most famous, football clubs in the world. A club that I'd known as a kid that people would talk to me about.

"I know what nights at Celtic Park are all about, they sing 'You'll Never Walk Alone.'


"It's like one of the most famous football clubs in the world and here I am potentially being the manager.

"Again Georgia's come in, her head is rattling asking what's going on, and I go: 'I think they're going to offer me the job! I don't understand it but I think that's what's going to happen.'

"Frank rings me about half-an-hour later and tells me it's happening and that they're going to make an offer. Away we go.'