Former Celtic forward Chris Sutton has revealed that he would welcome a return for Ange Postecoglou should Brendan Rodgers depart the club at the end of the season…
The Sky Sports pundit feels that the Australian coach still holds immense admiration from fans, having revitalised the club during his tenure at Celtic.
Sutton’s remarks arrive as questions mount over Rodgers’ future, with his contract set to run out at the end of the season.
Although the Irishman has indicated a willingness to remain at the club if he is offered a new contract by the board, ongoing poor form and friction between supporters and the hierarchy have heightened the uncertainty.
Brendan Rodgers has seen his squad asset-stripped by the Celtic Board
Crucially Rodgers talked of the club showing the necessary ambition as a factor in him staying beyond the end of the season and truth be told the entire opposite has happened as the board instead proceeded to asset strip his squad. Rodgers made it clear he had no intention of remaining as a maintenance manager and the board instead turned him into a crisis management boss looking to salvage a season that has started so badly.
Given his achievements at Celtic and huge fan backing, Postecoglou’s name has naturally come back into conversation given he has been harshly sacked by Nottingham Forest after just 39 days in charge.
“He’s respected at Celtic, the job he did. Brilliant, Angeball, what a brand of football”
Speaking via BBC 5 Live, Sutton said: “It could happen [Ange back to Celtic], I mean, would I like to see him back? Yeah, eventually, why not? I really enjoyed Angeball. Well, I think Brendan will leave at the end of the season – if Postecoglou just slots in next season, I would love to see Big Ange back.”
Sutton added: “He’s respected at Celtic, the job he did. Brilliant, Angeball, what a brand of football.“
Sutton’s observations highlight the enduring admiration Celtic fans have for Postecoglou, who’s dynamic, attacking approach and leadership during a time of turbulence at the club following the disastrous COVID season, made a significant impact at Celtic Park.
Big Ange delivered five domestic trophies in two seasons, thrilling football, and a sense of cohesion that supporters have felt lacking certainly since Brendan Rodgers returned.
The prospect of Postecoglou taking charge of the Hoops for a second time clearly would excite supporters
Although a return to Celtic for Ange is entirely speculative for now, the prospect of Postecoglou taking charge of the Hoops for a second time clearly would excite supporters, particularly amid scrutiny of not only Rodgers’ side’s results but the slow, pedestrian football that is going hand in hand with draws and defeats.
The one and only reason a team plays a particular system is because it works and the 4-3-3 possession for possession’s sake approach has run it’s course and if anyone was in any doubt about that Big Elvis settled the debate once and for all on Sunday afternoon at Dens Park.
Brendan Rodgers is paid £3m per season and he really has to start earning that now as he has to work with the players at his disposal – until at least the January window opens – and start willing games. A 4-4-2 at Tynecastle seems the sensible formation as Celtic at the very least must avoid defeat. And it’s a system that means you don’t need wingers.
Ange Postecoglou may of course not want to wait until the summer for his next job. Will he be short of alternatives? Probably not.
He’s won six major honours in his four years in European football, including a treble at Celtic and a European trophy at Tottenham. Another job in the Premier League might not happen but whether a return to Celtic appeals remains to be seen.
The only way Brendan Rodgers will leave Celtic ahead of the end of the season is if he’s sacked. While that’s not entirely out of the question, it’s highly unlikely, given the significant contribution to Celtic’s current woes that have been caused not by the manager but the asset stripping board of directors.
For that reason it seems unlikely that we’ll see Ange Postecoglou coming back to Celtic but clearly stranger things have happened to Ange recently. What he might now think is that Celtic was easily the best fit for his managerial style.
Conor Spence
Celtic in the Thirties in Two Volumes – Brilliantly researched and written by Matt Corr. An unmissable addition to any Celtic bookshelf. Click on the image below to order your copies…
Ange did a fantastic job with ourselves, this despite myself thinking it was a massive risk appointing him in the first place.
At board level, he was a dream appointment with making the player trading model, so successful and profitable.
Creating arguably the strongest core group of players, since the MON days.
Playing a brand of football, that was so exciting to watch, with a belief that we weren’t going to drop many points within an entire SPFL campaign.
This despite having such a cavalier approach to football, and whether that’s going to be right for the demands of European football?
What also worked well for ourselves, was Ange was very decisive in his decision making upon the recruitment of players, and didn’t entertain players who seemed to want to play the waiting game, that Rodgers seems to entertain moreso imo?
Would I be in favour of Ange returning?
The current state we find ourselves in as a club, then it would be a massive yes for the shorter term.
Still believe that ourselves as a development club within the CL landscape of European football, has to start addressing the development issues that exists.
Keep looking and hoping to find gold within the transfer market is always going to be a hit and miss approach, especially within the money market we operate within.
Tends to get overlooked that nearly a third of any squad getting built, has to consist of the 8 homegrown players.
Was a factor that Ange didn’t take much notice of either, but as a club we can’t continue to keep overlooking this requirement within our squad building process imo.
Rodgers has tried to improve matters in this regard, but still struggling to get the desired results within a huge area of the squad building process, that is ongoing every summer.
Would eventually like to see a manager in place with his own coaching staff in place, in order to revamp the entire coaching set up imo.
Problem remains is the potential 2 year turnaround in managers, that seems to be the maximum a manager can stay in the position within our club.
Such a process has been successful for keeping Scottish dominance intact.
Not convinced that a 2 year turnaround in managers is going to be successful and sustainable for CL football imo.
In that regards, European football is going to remain a hit and miss approach, and even without knowing what level we are going to be operating at.
From looking like a decent CL team in the making, to a poor europa league team at present, shows just how quickly things do change within European football.
Not so much so within the SPFL.