Ange Postecoglou

Anyone got the line up of our first game of last season out of interest?

 

Thanks m8. That line up wasn't too shabby when you think of it and had some right good players in it. I'm sure if big Ange was given time with that team he would have worked his magic on it.

 

CITY ENDORSEMENT HELPED ANGE LAND CELTIC GIG


City Football Group’s managing director of global football, Brian Marwood, speaks to KEEPUP’s Sacha Pisani about putting Ange Postecoglou forward for the Yokohama F.Marinos job and then endorsing him for the Celtic gig.

A year ago, Celtic plucked an Australian from Japan’s top flight to lead a much-needed overhaul of the Scottish giants.

But more importantly, Celtic wanted a man to help dethrone bitter rivals Rangers.

There was a mixed reaction to Ange Postecoglou’s appointment last June – his transformative football and title-winning work in Australia and Japan either unknown or dismissed by some.

Two A-League Men Championships with Brisbane Roar, an AFC Asian Cup with the Socceroos and a J1 League crown with Yokohama F.Marinos were just some of Postecoglou’s achievements.


However, 12 months on and the former Socceroos boss is the king of Glasgow, with the Scottish Premiership trophy back draped in Celtic colours and a League Cup in hand.

Celtic knew exactly what they were getting thanks to the City Football Group (CFG), through their 20% ownership in F.Marinos.

“We have a great relationship with Celtic. We were happy to endorse Ange when they spoke to us about potentially appointing him as head coach,” CFG’s managing director of global football Brian Marwood told KEEPUP.

“Again, you look at the work he has done there, after having a very difficult start. He went late in the summer, it was very difficult for him to bring players in and he was very resolute in terms of his thinking, what his objectives were and how he needed to create those and deliver them.

“You look at where the team got to at the end of the season, playing fantastic football and winning the title. In his first season he has walked with two trophies.

“I am immensely proud of what he has done there. I know his family have settled well, he has really enjoyed being in an institution that is Celtic Football Club and really up for the challenge of taking that club on a journey that everybody can be proud of.

“The success he has had there doesn’t surprise me, particularly after such a difficult start, but I think he will be working hard in the summer to make sure that they improve on what they have done this year.”

Marwood knows Postecoglou better than most, with their relationship dating back to the latter’s tenure as Australia manager between 2013 and 2017.


As Australia boss, Postecoglou delivered a first Asian Cup trophy to the nation – a monumental achievement on home soil in 2015.

Postecoglou also guided Australia to World Cup qualification in 2018, though he stepped down before the tournament in Russia four years ago.

The 56-year-old did oversee two impressive World Cup qualifying campaigns, which pitted the Socceroos against the likes of Spain, Netherlands, Chile, France, Denmark and Peru in 2014 and 2018.

Impressed by Postecoglou, Marwood and part-owners CFG were behind his F.Marinos appointment in 2018 after the exit of Frenchman and eventual Melbourne City boss Erick Mombaerts.


It was a masterstroke. Postecoglou ended F.Marinos’ 14-year J1 League title drought with an entertaining and high-octane brand of football in his second season.

He also earned praise from Pep Guardiola and Raheem Sterling after a friendly against CFG’s flagship club and Premier League giants Manchester City in 2019.

Postecoglou’s F.Marinos out-possessed Guardiola’s City in that pre-season match.

Celtic eventually came calling.

“The story of Ange, I first met him when he was Australian national team manager,” Marwood recalled.

“He came over to Europe to do a bit of a trip watching players and games. He got introduced to me when he came up to Manchester.

“He was somebody that straightaway we connected really well. Up to this day we are very, very good friends.

“At that time, he was somebody that you could sit and talk to and we just chatted football and we just connected really well.


“We stayed in contact and I was obviously following what he was doing with the Australian national team whose performances were very good and the way they were playing football was very good.

“We were looking for a coach at F.Marinos and he was somebody that we put forward to F.Marinos for what we believed would be the right choice in terms of the connection between what F.Marinos were trying to achieve and really what Ange was looking for in the next stage of his career.

“We introduced him to the people at F.Marinos, they really liked him, he was really keen to coach in the J-League and the rest is history.

“He went there, developed a wonderful style of play which got great plaudits and also won the title, which was their first title in many, many years.

“The way he is as a person, he won a lot of friends and admirers. It was great to see how that grew in terms of him as a person but also his Yokohama team, to the point where he got the opportunity to come to Europe.”

AUTHOR
Sacha Pisani

SOURCE
KEEPUP

 

Is that not the season before, I think he meant at the start of the season just gone, game v sheffield Wed?

 

V Sheffield Wed

 

On paper... How the * did we lose 10 in a row.

Silver linings i suppose. If we had sealed it, Lenny would still be here, and we wouldnt be on the cusp of something very very special like we are right now.

I was over the moon when BR came aboard.

But after his first season i said, he needs backing. And he needs to change a, b, c for europe. Invincible yes, but where are we GOING here?

I havent even dreamed of criticizing Ange yet. Ive totally bought into his philosophy, his treatment of the media, his training, his player choices... Everything.

 

Ye sure frimpong went to Leverkusen January 21

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A year has passed since Ange Postecoglou was announced as Celtic manager in what’s been a rollercoaster of an opening 12 months in charge.

Two trophies were delivered in his first season with the League Cup and the Scottish Premiership silverware glistening in the trophy cabinet at Celtic Park.

Along the way, there have been dramatic and crucial games that helped deliver both trophies and here we take a look at five of the matches that helped secured both trophies.




ABERDEEN 1 – 2 CELTIC – OCT 3, 2021
Having lost the first three away league matches in the season, Celtic headed to Pittodrie hoping to end a winless run away from home that stretched back to February of the previous season.

Already sitting six points behind the league leaders before kick-off, it was crucial the team headed back from the northeast with all three points.

Kyogo got the team off to the perfect start after scoring a sublime goal with his chest in the first half, however, the nerves started to jangle as Aberdeen equalised in the second period.

Then, with six minutes remaining, Jota popped up at the back post to prod home an Adam Montgomery cross to seal a vital victory.



ROSS COUNTY 1 – 2 CELTIC – DEC 15, 2021
A trip on a cold midweek night in the winter to the Highlands is always an occasion fraught with tension and anxiety about the potential pitfalls that could lie in wait.

December itself was a tense time as the Hoops took part in eight games across all competitions, stretching the squad to its limit.

The squad depth wasn’t aided by a number of injuries, which meant when the Celts rocked up to Dingwall, Ange Postecoglou had to pick a makeshift front three of Adam Montgomery, Josip Juranovic and Liel Abada as the lone striker.

The Israeli did get Celtic off to a great start with a first-half goal, but Ross County equalised in the second half before Carl Starfelt was sent off.

In search of a moment of inspiration to keep the title challenge going, the 10-men struck in the seventh minute of stoppage time thanks to a towering Anthony Ralston header to send the travelling support wild in the away end.



CELTIC 2 – 1 HIBERNIAN – DEC 19, 2021
After experiencing the highs of the late show at Ross County, the team were straight back into action four days later in the League Cup final.

It was the first opportunity of silverware for Ange Postecoglou, after defeating Hearts, Raith Rovers and St Johnstone to reach the final.

After falling behind in the second half, the game soon turned into the Kyogo show, as the Japanese striker levelled straight from the restart with a sublime first touch and finish.

But he left the best for last, as he produced a stunning lob that would win the club’s Goal of the Season award and seal the win that brought the League Cup back to Paradise.


CELTIC 3 – 0 RANGERS – FEB 2, 2022
The day the Hoops moved to the top of the table for the first time, a position they would keep from there all the way to the final day of the season.

It was a match that is hard to describe in words, probably best summed up by saying you had to be there.

60,000 Celtic fans squeezed every ounce of energy out of themselves to create a cacophony of noise and colour.

The players responded on the park, putting in a blistering first-half display that saw the Hoops go into the break 3-0 up after two goals from Reo Hatate and one from Liel Abada.

The occasion goes into the list of iconic night games at Celtic Park due to the mixture of noise, passion and dominant football that took the Bhoys back to the summit.



DUNDEE UNITED 1 – 1 CELTIC – MAY 11, 2022
It won’t go down as one of the all-time memorable title-clinching games, but as it was the one that sealed the league it has to have its special mention.

The trophy was pretty much in the bag as the Hoops went into the second last game of the season with a six-point lead and a far superior goal difference.

But, mathematically, the job still had to be done and Giorgos Giakoumakis powered home a header in the second half to get the party started.

A point was all that was needed, so even when Dundee United equalised it didn’t spoil the mood as the Bhoys officially wrested back control of the SPFL trophy.

 

I'm gonna say it....if Ange was here last season. We win 10iar with exactly last seasons squad.

He's the difference in just basic professionalism and what that does to the performance of the squad. You know for a fact he does everything Lennon couldn't be * with doing...you know, like pre and post match analysis just for a start.

That alone makes a world of difference.

 

Look at the replies of the tweet announcing Ange as manager. Comedic for Celtic fans, horror for huns. It's a good way to remember just how superior they thought they were this season and how they'd walk the title. We ripped it away from them playing, as Jock Stein would describe, pure beautiful inventive football

 

A year ago Ange arrived and since then WE NEVER STOP. HH

 

Harry kewell incoming is a rumor doing the rounds


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Love a good rumour


Canny see it though

 

Sky sports running the story now


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There's a thread on it mate.

 

Cant find it


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