Ange Postecoglou was once described by Michael Spiel as a ‘lucky man’ regarding the finances he has available to him. Whether it was an attempt at cheap psychology or just his honest feelings, no one knows, or to be honest cares very much at all.
theRangers manager likes to talk, more so about Celtic and his ‘lucky man’ tag on Ange has been one of his most memorable. Is Ange a lucky man? Well yes he is. He is the manager of one the greatest and well run football clubs in World football. He is worshipped by one of the greatest set of supporters in world football. He has great personal values that so similar to the very ethos of Celtic Football Club and of course he has a loving family and a close group of friends that support him through thick and thin. So Ange will certainly consider himself to be a lucky man.
But his success on the park has nothing to do with luck, anything but. You just have to remember the shambles he inherited. A squad low on numbers and low on confidence due to the dire covid season. Up against a Rangers side who just won a title in an unbeaten campaign with a 25 points margin between them and the shambles that was Celtic during that Covid season.
Ange not only came in and instilled that belief back into them, but got them playing a different style of football altogether. A style that was for the better. He lost key players in Odsonne Edouard, Kristoffer Ajer and Ryan Christie which didn’t help, but he brought in the likes of Kyogo, Liel Abada, and Carl Starfelt in to offset their loss.
Soon he added Joe Hart, Jota, Giorgos Giakoumakis Josip Juranovic and Cameron Carter Vickers to his squad and it had a more balanced look. There were some tough times as you’d expect with a new man and players at the helm, plus a change in football style. It wasn’t going to work overnight. Nevertheless we won the first trophy of the season and the first in Ange’s reign as a Kyogo double seen us pip Hibs to lift the League Cup in December 2021.
The next transfer window saw Ange use his knowledge in the Japanese market to great effect. He signed Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yousuke Ideguchi. The first two being affective from the word go, the same could be said for Matt O’Riley who also joined from MK Dons.
Ange now had his own side and had them playing his wonderful style of football, added with belief and mental toughness. It wasn’t long until we had overtaken theRangers and went top of the table. It’s where we would stay and yesterday we were crowned champions for the second year running. Only Championship side Inverness Caley Thistle now stand between us and a treble.
Has Ange been lucky? Of course you need a bit of luck to be successful, but 99% of his success is down to nothing more than sheer determination, belief in his own methods and sheer hard work plus his eye for a player. His net spend is around £2.6 million. He’s worked within the rules and worked wonders. That isn’t lucky that’s mightily impressive is it not Mr Beale?
The 90s band The Verve once wrote a brilliant song, lucky man. It was written by Richard Ashcroft who based the song on his settled loving relationship with his wife. Ange has a similar settled loving relationship with Celtic. So I guess you could say he is a lucky man, instead of fire in his hands it’s in his heart.
JustAnOrdinaryBhoy – follow on Twitter @ordinarybhoy
🗣️ “The whole club really embraced me from day one”
An emotional Ange Postecoglou discusses the hard-work and sacrifice football management requires after securing back-to-back league titles ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/fsICk24utQ
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) May 7, 2023
📣 “Champions… AGAIN!”#CelticFC🍀🏆 pic.twitter.com/TYVNCorD4u
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) May 7, 2023
🚨 𝗔 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲
🇯🇵Kyogo
🇰🇷 OhThe goals from Tynecastle that saw us confirmed as #cinchPrem 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀!
Did you enjoy the day, Celts?#HEACEL | @CelticFC | #COYBIG🍀 pic.twitter.com/mYdgthALWW
— Celtic TV (@CelticTV) May 8, 2023
