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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Matthew Lindsay

You gotta have faith: Tom Boyd confident Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou will ace summer recruitment drive

Celtic great Tom Boyd with a couple of fans ahead of the Taxi Outing to Troon after presenting a £7,000 cheque from the Celtic Foundation. Picture: Colin Mearns.

FORMER Celtic captain Tom Boyd has expressed complete faith in Ange Postecoglou’s ability to strengthen his Parkhead squad further this summer ahead of an eagerly-awaited return to the Champions League.

The Glasgow club will play in the lucrative group stages of Europe’s premier club competition for the first time in five years next season as a result of their cinch Premiership triumph in the 2021/22 campaign.

Postecoglou landed centre half Cameron Carter-Vickers, the United States internationalist who excelled during a successful loan spell in Scotland last term, from Spurs in a £6m transfer last week.

And Tom Boyd, the ex-Celtic and Scotland defender, yesterday backed the Greek-Australian coach to bring in more quality players in key positions before the Champions League proper gets underway in September. 

Speaking as he presented a cheque for £7,000 from the Celtic Foundation to the annual Taxis Outing to Troon yesterday, Boyd said: “We want to improve in every transfer window.

“That is always the case. And up until now he (Postecoglou) has been able to create that in terms of the players he has brought in. They have been able to make an impact.

“Where we go and what players come in? We put our faith in the manager. I trust him. That’s what managers are judged on. The players they bring into the club and can they make an impact?

“Unfortunately, a couple of years ago, the players we brought in didn’t have that impact and that is one of the reasons why we didn’t win the league.

“Now you look at what Ange has done and every player that he has brought in has made a massive impact to help us win the league and a cup double.

“What he is doing, he is doing right and that is why we trust what he is doing. If we see a player who is linked with them, the due diligence has been done well before that by the club. They have a better outlook than us.”

Boyd added: “The adjustment of style, the formation which was alien to many of us at the start, was working by the end of the season and won the league and got us into the Champions League proper.

“That’s the faith we have in the manager and because he has done it and given us that confidence to go into next season hoping he can bring in more better players.

“When the manager talks we listen. After last season and what he did with the football club, from where it was at the start of the season to where it was when we finished, you would have to say we are in a far better position to compete this season.

“Rather than it being a rebuilding job, we just need to add a couple of wee tweaks here and there because we have the basis of an excellent squad. Hopefully that will see us into the Champions League.”

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