Memories of the “second worst thing to hit Hiroshima” attempt to undermine Wim Jansen on his arrival as Celtic manager from Japanese football in 1997 remain vivid. With no internet, we knew little of Wim. His short stints as assistant with the Saudi national team and as manager of Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the four years since leaving Feyenoord did nothing to enhance his reputation.
Ange Postecoglou is an easier man for the support to make their own minds up about. He has a record of developing talent, improving teams and winning titles. By any reasonable measure, his CV is spotless. None of his success happened in Europe and there is nowhere as acutely intense in the football roster as Glasgow, so there are hurdles to overcome.
I like that he is an established winner and that he has not relied on the chequebook to become so. I also hear great things about his strength of character, he has old school authority, as well as a technocrats brain.
Eddie Howe went to the top of the candidate list around two months ago. The time since has been lost, although Postecoglou was not in serious contention that far back. We are now three weeks from preseason training. If Ange is to be appointed, he faces a two week isolation period before being able to visit Celtic Park or Lennoxtown. He might just make it.
Before any of that, he needs to exit Japan and his contractual arrangements with City Football Group’s Yokohama F Marinos, pack his family and belongings up and fly to the opposite end of the globe. There is a lot of work for him to just sit at the Celtic manager’s desk.
At Howe’s request, we were prepared to recruit his entire football infrastructure. He would have endorsed the appointment of coaches, scouts and director of football. Celtic signed up for this but when you let them bring their encourage with them, the successful ones inevitably take the same faces (and more) back out the door with them when they go.
With Ange it will be different, although he may be familiar with some of the faces from City Football Group. This infrastructure is equally as important as the managerial appointment. Celtic need to rebuild a team ahead of a season that offers automatic Champions League qualification for the Scottish Premiership winners. Much of that burden will fall on the manager’s supporting cast. Lots to do, not a lot of time to do it in……
A quick word on Newco’s £6.75m public share offering, announced this morning. Newco have returned an operating loss every year of their existence and have been unable to trade players to meet the shortfall. The burden has thus far fallen on directors. Turning to the fans may indicate a possibility the directors’ largess has dried up. It could also imply no fresh investor has been found.
Uefa’s Financial Fair Play rules mean any fresh equity investment cannot be spent on most operational costs, like football or support staff. Competing against a team that runs a persistent eight figure annual deficit has its drawbacks, but we have seen this movie before. We are back at the roulette table with all the chips on Champions League money.
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Howdy
HH
Another
Hello
A second liquidation event would only lead to a third incarnation of Beelzebub’s eleven , a third to a fourth , to a fifth and so on . Leaving a mile long queue of face painters outside the poor hoose .
“The majority shareholder was left fuming after the eleventh hour pull out by Eddie after months of negotiating and planning. We’ve been told by a reliable source Eddie had already started looking at targets for Celtic and discussing them with the hierarchy.”
When I was saying that Howe would be the next manager,I was going on info from Peterborough,that he had been there looking at,Dembele,and their striker.Thats how close he was to taking up the post.Now it seems,the Everton job might be coming up.Go figure.
As ever more unknowns than knowns, 6 months totally wasted.
” By any reasonable measure, his CV is spotless.”
A line so stinking in deceit that it takes my breath away that Paul ever believed he could post it.
Even looking at his J League record that does not stand up to even modest scrutiny.
He finished 12th in his first campaign. 1st in his second and then fell back to 9th. It is patchy if we’re been generous, and to claim it as “spotless” is to perpetrate and fraud on the readers of this blog.
“We are back at the roulette table with all the chips on Champions League money.”
And Lawwell and that hopeless Board seem hell bent on giving them that lifeline.
Criminal negligence from our Board.
Pity some of them aren’t Celtic supporters like us.
Brilliant. Sounds like we have stolen a march on the European heavyweights and uncovered a coaching genius that has somehow evaded their extensive scouting networks. Just as we did with Neil Lennon.
Be interesting to know:
HOW did we come across this guy?
WHO else was considered?
WHAT makes him better than them?
WHO is carrying out the process and what is their previous record in this area?
All this guff probably means Kennedy gets rewarded with a new contract for his sterling work throwing the ball up at our four defenders, for them to header it right back to him.
Tactical genius.
For a bit of levity in the ‘we’re awesome v they’re shite’ rammy…
Australia’s best EPL 11 ‘select’
V
Scotland’s best EPL 11 ‘select’…
Result predictions?
Mark Bosnich
Danny Tiatto
Lucas Neill
Craig Moore
Mile Jedinak
Aaron Mooy
Brett Emerton
Harry Kewell
Tim Cahill
Mark Viduka
Stan Lazaridis
V
Neil Sullivan
Alan Hutton
Colin Hendry
Davie Weir
Andy Robertson
Darren Fletcher
Gary McAllister
Charlie Adam
Gordy Strachan
Duncan Ferguson
Kevin Gallacher
Welcome Ange; we’re a lovely bunch when you get to know us!!
Very enjoyable Pablo.
Respect.
“His CV is spotless”
Technically? Correct.
But is his CV deep enough?
From what you’ve reported – we offered Eddie Howe the world ….
…. and it wasn’t enough.
A big mistake.
BTW Pablo – credit where it is due.
You called the Howe circus correctly.
“I also hear great things about his strength of character, he has old school authority”
————–
Aah yes, the good old “my way or the highway” tough guy stuff, very 70s/80s. Can’t remember much of that style in the last 15-20 years (maybe because it doesn’t work with the modern day player?), although I seem to recall it had a bit of a “renaissance” when Felix Magath pitched up at Fulham. Trying to remember how that went……..
Think thats Paul telling us that if AP signs then his assistants
will be Kennedy and Strachan
Give the guy a chance let him nominate his own backroom team
Vale Bhoy,
Exactly what I was thinking.
HH
The hurdles to overcome now , at this late date , for any new guy are more than plentiful.
As for the quick word on Newco.
When did any rules apply ?
In what particular scenario ?
That’s where we’ve found ourselves.
The Newco with 55 titles, no sending offs,who only conceded 1 penalty award while winning the league . Zero positive Covid tests !!!
This isn’t a sport anymore.
Still beyond scunnered CSC .
It’s like a parallel universe, and the silence from Celtic PLC is deafening.
Someone’s Ego 🤔 stopped Lenny bringing in his own backroom staff in, but were led to believe we offered EH, THE WORLD….. Aye and we might end up with who……????
Whoever we end up with will get my support.
Will give Ange every support. He’ll need it. Waiting on Howe has been a disaster.
If the huns make the ECL you can bet the farm on them winning this and future leagues.
Their ECL results are as important as ours this season.
If comments on here about our club, those who run it and our managerial appointment were representative of any more than the 1% of our great support who inhabit social media, I would worry – I am not worried about the institution of Celtic – naturally I am concerned about how we rebuild and move forward.
There are those on here who constantly tear the BBC, it’s mouthpiece Tom English & Charlie Nicholas to shreds – amazing that now they are ‘singing from the same hymnsheet’…..is it just a case of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend”…yes I think it is!!!
CELTICFOREVER
Mibbe not!
I was told today that Maloney has been identifying targets for a while.
Assistant coach, mibbe, or Dof.
We’ll see.
Welcome Ange !
May I suggest for local coaching support you look at Messrs John Hughes and Gary Holt pls ?
The other day I did a very long piece on the record of this guy and as informative as some found it to be I also got the usual snarks about it being too long. So here’s today’s article, a vastly condensed version of that piece, for those who want to look at this flawless CV.
——–
So I got some emails over the past couple of days which made me shake my head in frustration, because essentially they were saying that the article I wrote on Postecoglou’s record was too long to hold their attention.
Normally I wouldn’t even entertain commentary like that, and especially on a subject so serious that it required a serious examination.
But these aren’t normal circumstances and because they aren’t normal circumstances I’m going to do something I’ve never done before; I’m going to parse what I wrote the other day and present it in a condensed version.
Now, there’s a full context to this information, and it’s all in the longer piece.
For anyone who hasn’t read it yet and wants to after reading this, you can do so here.
But this issue is sufficiently grave enough that I am happy to put up a simpler version for those who don’t want to slog through 2500 words. We’re about to appoint this guy, and fans should know who he is.
Agne Postecoglou has been in the game 25 years, and we’re basing this appointment, in part, on “achievements” which track back to when Fergus McCann was at Celtic.
He won his first Australian titles in 1997.
In 1999 he won the Oceanian version of the Champions League.
Which sounds impressive until you examine the calibre of teams in that tournament and that at the time Australia was the biggest country competing in it, by far.
His next domestic honours were, again, in Australia and came a decade later, in 2010.
Where was he in the meantime?
He spent a few months managing in the Greek Third division and the rest of his time running the Australian international youth teams.
So he won things in Australia, ten years apart, and the last of those honours was eleven years ago.
A record like that is, by no stretch of the imagination, remotely good enough for him to become the manager of Celtic.
But of course, there’s more.
As the international youth manager of Australia, at Under 17 and Under 20 level, he won seven honours. Which sounds impressive until you consider that Australia had a professional youth set-up and these were the countries they beat; American Samoa; Cook Islands; Fiji; Kiribati; New Caledonia; New Zealand; Niue; Papua New Guinea; Samoa; Solomon Islands; Tahiti; Tonga; Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
I don’t know how many of them even have a full-time youth-set up.
None of those titles was won prior to 2010, so we’re talking about accomplishments some 15 years in the past, and at a level nowhere near good enough for this gig.
So still, although it looks good on paper, there’s nothing in there in practical terms, which would make you think this guy should even be on the short-list to become Celtic boss.
His career with the Australian national team is that he arrived mid-way through the World Cup qualifying campaign in 2014, and helped them to a second place finish in a group that Japan won and was made up of those two teams, Jordan, Oman and Iraq.
His 2018 World Cup qualifying Group, where they finished third, involved a lengthy two-group run in.
They topped their first group with seven wins out of eight against Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Bangladesh. Their second group stage had bigger teams in it; they finished third in that, behind Japan and Saudi Arabia.
The other teams in that group were the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Thailand.
In the 2014 World Cup finals they went out after three games and no points, but their group was comprised of Holland, Chile and Spain. He quit before the 2018 competition kicked off.
His most impressive success as Australian boss was winning the AFC Asian Cup.
The teams who got the finals in the year he won it were as follows; Australia, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Iran, Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, China and Palestine.
In the 2015 tournament they didn’t need to play qualifiers, as they were the host nation.
They drew South Korea, Oman and Kuwait in the groups, and finished second behind the Koreans. They drew China in the quarter final and won 2-0. Japan, who were holders, went out to the UAE and Australia beat them 2-0. Their most impressive result was beating South Korea in the final, after finishing behind them in the group.
The 2019 AFC Cup was won by Qatar. Make of that what you will.
Is this the record of a Celtic manager yet? If you’re still unconvinced, maybe his record in Japan will convince you. He’s on his fourth season in the J League.
He finished 12th in his first campaign.
Which makes his triumph, where he won the title, in the second season, look all the more impressive.
But if we’re considering the incredible rise it must have taken then we also have to consider the incredible fall the following year, where they actually finished ninth.
This season, he leaves them sitting in third.
I think it’s important to understand the level this guy has managed it and the quality of the teams he’s come up against.
This is a no pressure environment.
Most of these countries don’t even have football as the national sport. We are entrusting our future to a guy with a CV which looks good on paper but which doesn’t stand up to real scrutiny when you look at it.
I hope you guys now have an appreciation for why a lot of us are gravely concerned about where we are right now as a club and what our level of ambition appears to be.
We’re trusting this guy not only to lead us through European qualifiers coming up in a few short weeks but to wrestle back the title from a settled squad which didn’t lose a league game last season.
That’s the reality of this appointment, and it’s why a lot of us are scared.
Are we really meant to believe that Eddie Howe never came because one or more members of his backroom staff didn’t fancy it? Sounds rubbish but if so, then it wouldn’t say much about Eddie. Will he need his full entourage for every job he does?
Having family in Oz and visiting frequently, Angelo is not unknown to me. A left field appointment it certainly would be, if it happens. He’s certainly no mug, with more experience than several of our previous managers. He’s got some task ahead of him and will need all the support he can get. Interesting times ahead.
MARSPAPA @ 12:28
———-
Surely you are not suggesting that Eddie Howe did not want his backroom staff to come with him.
Celtic would have known this at the precise moment they contacted his agent right at the start of the process.
Celtic’s offer would have taken this fully into consideration. The deal was on until the backroom staff suddenly stated that they would not move to Scotland.
I wonder what prompted that??????
TIFOsy are just attempting to crowdfund the huns, a fancy gofundme appeal. Gianluca Vialli fronted it at one time.
Interest lies in whether £500 gets willing huns 2,500 shares or the club does a Charles Green number on them by charging more than the 20p the directors have settled on during the past five years.
Howe walked away, so we have moved on to Plan B. This Ange guy is still under contract and needs quarantine.
As a former National Team boss in Australia he will have a knowledge of Europe as most of his players play in Europe. He will know a little about us through Tom Rogic but with Jackson Irvine and Martin Boyle in Australia squads he will know about more than Celtic. He currently manages ex celt Nakamura.
He has moved countries so will have a method to get up to speed quickly and learn the ropes. He will lean on local advise but may want to bring some coaches with him. Kennedy needs to leave as does Strachan but it would be silly not to give him a debrief of the debacle last season.
The UEFA qualifications are not a problem although a 2 week quarantine might be a problem.
All in all should be doable
Son of an Immigrant family to Australia moving onto Scotland has a certain cadence
Malcolm Tucker couldn’t put lipstick on this omnishambles
John Fleck tests positive for covid at Scotland training camp – I’m assuming the whole squad will have to isolate.
Oh wait a minute they tested negative so that’s ok
One rule for us
ZIGGYDOC1 on 1ST JUNE 2021 12:38 PM
——-
You must be aware that it is trend in football world-wide that new managerial appointees usually (almost always) bring in their own backroom staff – their trusted lieutenants if you like. If you want a descriptive example……think about Allardyce & Sammy Lee😁
If it’s AP will they back him sufficiently, doubt it by the reference to chequebook above.
Maybe one day we’ll take the football side of things seriously, won’t hold my breath.
Maloney would be a start, Kennedy needs to get out the building he’s part of the problem and needs to learn elsewhere
By any measure, Postecoglou is an appalling appointment. Inexcusable.
Basic due diligence and risk assessment tells us that we need:
A proven manager with European experience (Europe is the source of our biggest chunk of income)
A manager with a record of delivering success rapidly (in Scotland, failure can be financially disastrous)
A manager who can be reasonably expected to outperform Gerard/Beale. (Brendan Rodgers for example, would fit this description, John Kennedy would not).
This guy ticks none of these boxes. I would actually contend that even if he succeeds, he is still the wrong appointment as he is far too much of a gamble with automatic CL qualification at stake.
Am not sure if he has been mentioned already, but how on earth are we not talking to Philippe Clement? The guy won the Jupiler League with Genk, (2018?) was poached by Brugge and won two more titles. When Wanyama was at Beerschot, Clement was desperately trying to get Brugge to sign him (he was U21 coach there at the time). His teams are athletic, with loads of running power and plenty of size.
For me, a candidate like Clement is literally miles ahead of this Australian guy.
Basic due diligence.
The Ibrox model never changes – from “every fiver…..etc”, to EBTs, through administration & liquidation, with Murray, Whyte & Green, and now with Park in the hotseat – it has always been to win at ANY cost & under ANY circumstances. Even ten years in the wilderness playing in lower tiers and banished from European competition doesn’t change their approach – it really is quite something.
We don’t/can’t match that philosophy
New Club, repeat New Club…
some weather
https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/pa7
Can the hold up be while a suitable shower is found in Japan to ratify another underwhelming appointment. What a year we’ve had and it continues……………..
JHB
Maybe EH showed them the transfer budget and wages on offer to attract the players they would be looking at and de ided against it.
Maybe they did due dilligence on how contracts were finalised as thought, eh no
thanks.
Maybe it was the fact that Scotland has to many violent citizens.
BTW, The Ceo of Man u came under attack from his own fans “WOODWARD MUST DIE”
Do you think they will struggle to appoint a new manager…… Your assumption EH was too weak to take our offer.
Did EH use us to attract offers from the EPL.
Did CELTIC use EH to attract nimbers for season books.
We will never get the Truth…… Why didn’t we offer the world to BR to stay for the ten
To many questions and to many lies.