Ange Postecoglou insists his PFA Scotland Manager of the Year success would not be possible without an ‘outstanding’ collective at Celtic.
The Parkhead boss was ‘humbled’ to be recognised at Sunday’s event – alongside Premiership Player of the Year in Kyogo Furuhashi - but was keen to emphasise the contribution of his players, backroom team and the wider staff at the club. Postecoglou has already banked two trophies in the Viaplay Cup and Premiership title, and could yet secure his first treble by beating Inverness Caledonian Thistle in next month’s Scottish Cup final.
He admits it’s satisfying to be voted for by his managerial peers.
“It’s nice,” the 57-year-old said. As a manager you are always talking about the collective. You realise how important it is. You don’t have success without a whole group of people pushing in the same direction. If the individual stuff comes across it’s nice, but I’m just representative of a larger group. I am sort of the front man.
"We’ve had an outstanding year in terms of the level of performance the boys have managed to maintain. We have got outstanding staff. We support them and give them the best platform. I am pleased and honoured and humbled to receive it. But I am representative of a large group of people.”
Kyogo, meanwhile, was named the top-flight’s outstanding talent after a 30-goal haul helped propel Celtic to their second consecutive league championship. Like his manager, the Japanese striker was keen to single out others, and insisted he wants to remain at Celtic for as long as possible after adding the club’s own Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year trophies to his PFA success.
“I am really pleased to win all the awards,” Kyogo said. “The reason I got them was due to all the support from the fans, my team-mates and the coaching staff.
“Everyone has supported me and I could not be happier. I want to play as many days as I can and make the supporters happy. That’s how I feel.
“Even outside of the pitch, people recognise me and say hi. They say positive things about me, whether home or away they support me.
“I feel that, I am happy about it and it’s helping me perform well.”
