Ange Postecoglou was in the midst of something quite extraordinary. In the final stages of the Champions League defeat by Real Madrid, there were almost 60,000 fans on their feet chanting his name.
Singing at the top of their voices with the team 3-0 down. After the whistle had sounded, they continued to chant and sing for the Aussie and his players as they walked around the pitch to say thanks for the backing. It was a gesture of support and recognition of where Postecoglou has taken the club in 15 short months and a message that everyone is on board with him.
In the cut-throat culture of modern-day football, that’s a rare thing for a manager and something to be cherished and held onto. And his message afterwards was powerful about repaying that support and building the club up to be in with the elite and properly competing on a regular basis. It’s among the many reasons why I cannot see Postecoglou being interested in a move from Glasgow’s east end right now.
You are surely not going to go from that to leaving in the blink of an eye, especially not to, with the greatest of respect, Brighton and Hove Albion. Postecoglou backs himself and so he should. His CV is stellar. He has taken his country to World Cup Finals, he has won trophies wherever he has been.
If you back yourself, you are going to be selective and not jump at the first opportunity that comes your way. The Premier League is regarded by many as the best league in the world.
But Celtic are far bigger than the majority of teams who operate within England’s top flight and that is a fact. Like I’ve said, no disrespect to Brighton, but Celtic are miles ahead of them. I can’t see a coach of Postecoglou’s quality stepping down the ladder to go to England’s South Coast.
If he keeps doing what he’s doing at Celtic and progressing the club the way he is, he will go one day, I’m sure. Too many people south of the border in high positions are taking notice of him. Celtic has recorded some impressive victories in recent times against some of the big clubs in Europe, AC Milan and Barcelona falling.
But I can’t recall as many people talking about Celtic in the way they did in the aftermath of that Real loss. The style, the way they went at and worried the European champions, the fearlessness and quality within some of their play. Postecoglou strikes me as a builder of clubs and a builder of teams.
Looking through his CV, that seems to be the way he has done his work and, although three transfer windows down, I’d say he’s still not even halfway through his building of Celtic given where he’d like to take them. Yes he left Yokohama Marinos to move to Celtic but that was the opportunity to get to Europe that he had craved.
Not just to Europe but to a club in the continent with such a huge fanbase and recognition. Postecoglou gets Celtic. I’ve only met him a couple of times to do TV stuff, so I can’t pretend to be his best pal or know how he thinks.
Therefore, I can only judge the character I see and he comes across to me like an honest and hard-working individual who says it straight. I don’t see any lip service. Just tells it straight. So, when you listen to him talk you believe him. His messages around the Celtic support leading into the Real game were clear. He talked about the way people are struggling in their home lives with the cost of living crisis and that it means so much to him to make them happy when parting with their hard-earned cash and going to Celtic Park to watch his team.
To give them joy for 90 minutes. That stuff matters to fans. He’s talked about the privilege in the fact he’s been given a platform to display his talents on the biggest club stage in the game in the Champions League by Celtic. That sounds like someone who is heavily invested in his club and its supporters.
When the day comes for Postecoglou to leave and if it is to England, it’ll be to one of the bigger clubs, a top-six club. If it’s not there, I don’t think he’ll be going anywhere. It’s understandable some Celtic fans may be concerned about the situation given their experience with Brendan Rodgers when he walked out of the door.
However, I believe the circumstances around that are quite different. Rodgers had been at Celtic for over two-and- a-half years when he moved to Leicester and, from the outside, it appeared the relationship between boss and hierarchy was not as sweet as it was in the beginning. You got the feeling he had taken the club as far as he could.
Timing is everything and Postecoglou will know the reaction to Rodgers. Plus, just over a year into the job, he still has things to achieve, domestically and in Europe. Earlier in the season, when asked about squad rotation and keeping players who were on the bench happy, Postecoglou was crystal clear with his response.
He said: “They are at Celtic Football Club. If that is not happiness for them, I don’t know what is.” Such a sentiment tells you what he thinks about the size and stature of Celtic.
And tells me that he isn’t going anywhere soon. And certainly not to Brighton.
