ANGE POSTECOGLOU quit Celtic in June only a couple of days after sealing a world record eighth domestic silverware clean sweep.
Forty-eight hours after the 3-1 Scottish Cup Final win over Inverness Caley Thistle at Hampden on Saturday June 3, the Greek-Australian boss was on his way to Spurs.
Postecoglou’s two-year reign at Parkhead ended abruptly as he headed to London.
However, it has now been revealed the former Australia World Cup gaffer could have been plying his trade in England four years ago – two seasons before he arrived in Glasgow from J-League champions Yokohama F Marinos as the long-term successor to Neil Lennon.
WELCOME TO CELTIC…Ange Postecoglou on his first day at Parkhead in June 2021.
It could have turned out so differently for the 58-year-old team chief if he had not been turned down by Championship outfit Huddersfield Town.
David Webb, the Yorkshire club’s Director of Football, admitted: “We had a couple of long-distance phone calls. I spoke to him and really liked him as a person.
“He was someone who I felt would have fit Huddersfield really well because of his values and I liked the way his teams played.
“I like authenticity and he was just himself. This is me, this is how I am, this is how I play, this is what I do.”
Webb, speaking to the Scottish Sun, added: “He’d done his homework on the Huddersfield squad.
“But where he was situated, we couldn’t move quick enough to get him over the line where we needed it to be.”
THE LAST HURRAH…Ange Postecoglou with the newly-won Scottish Cup, his fifth trophy success in two years at Celtic.
The English second-tier club went through a succession of team bosses after American David Wagner left in January 2019. German coach Jan Stewert was brought in for a brief spell and Mark Hudson, Danny Cowley and Danny Schofield also had stints before Spaniard Carlos Coberan arrived.
Postecoglou remained in Japan for another two years before being appointed Hoops boss in June 2021 to begin his remarkable transformation of the club that had completed the previous campaign without a trophy for the first time in 11 years.
After winning the Premiership – Celtic’s tenth in 11 years – and the League Cup, he followed up with the treble last time out.
Brendan Rodgers returned for his second spell shortly after the departure of Postecoglou.
