For Celtic supporters Christmas came early this year, and as such there won’t be much we can unwrap on Christmas morning that will come close to the package delivered via airmail from a land down under, via Japan and with a quarantine stop off in West London.
By this time last year Celtic were in a mess. November had seen back-to-back 4-1 humpings at the hands of Sparta Prague reserves, Ross County had pumped us out the League Cup, without us laying as much as a glove on them, and we were grasping for a life jacket in a title race in which we were drowning.
The fans were protesting outside the ground and the previous manager, having lost the dressing room, appeared somehow not to have lost the support of the ever out of touch boardroom and clung on, and on, and on, until February in the end.
The post-Christmas landscape had looked promising if we could only win at Ibrox, but that soon evaporated with a Callum McGregor own goal, and then just to nail the coffin firmly shout came the disastrous Dubai jaunt that ultimately put paid to the league campaign in January, one that in truth had been long lost before then.
After the winter of discontent came the chase for Eddie Howe. It was a protracted and ultimately fruitless endeavour, and by the first week of June many of us were wondering if we’d look back longingly on season 20/21, considering the creek we were now up without a paddle smelled all too much of Craigy White.
Then came the big announcement Celtic’s new manager was joining Celtic from Yokohama F. Marinos, where he had delivered the J League title. Previously he had also won Premiership and Championship Titles in Australia’s A League and as Head Coach of the Australian National team, he’d also lifted the Asian Cup in 2015 – the first time the country had ever won this title. He’d also managed the Australian national team at the World Cup in 2014 in Brazil and led Australia to qualification in 2018 in Russia, and was Australia’s PFA Manager of the decade in 2015.
Yet when it came to the name Ange Postecoglou I had to reach for Google, as did most of us, unless we were Australian, Japanese, someone with far too much time on their hands or a teller of little white lies.
There was nothing like the days of research that followed to make me realise far too much of my footballing consumption was a little Eurocentric shall we say?
The feedback was by and large entirely positive, indeed many seemed genuinely excited for what we were about to experience. It was as if you’d just told someone you’d never seen The Sopranos or thought Star Wars was a kid’s movie so had given it a miss. Oh, and Marinos fans seemed to be lurching into a bout of depression at the loss of their ‘Boss’, and it appeared an outpouring of grief rather than simply the impeccable manners exhibited by Japanese culture. This started to feel good, with sympathy to Marinos fans thrown in, he lied!
This guy appeared to be a miracle worker, but could he do it in Scotland’s goldfish bowl, without his own staff accompanying him, with that Board supporting him, and with half the squad wanting away this season even more desperately than they did the year before, and could he do it quickly, oh and the Celtic Way too please, if at all possible?
Turns out he could and he did it without a Chief Scout, without a Head of Football Operations and with the rest of the staff divided into six groups and tasked with supplying two players each by the close of the transfer window – if it wasn’t done exactly that way it wasn’t done any more scientifically or methodically that’s for sure. Then just as it was all done the new CEO walked out. Welcome to Celtic Ange!
This was an impossible job Ange made possible. New players bedded in, those who seemed destined for the exit door, or thought of as squad players at best, were soon moulded into an entirely new system and by and large began an upward trajectory.
The Champions League came too soon, but even the exit, after extra-time, was less than the doing many of us were expecting. And we then proceeded to qualify for the Europa League Group stages where, bar a turning over against Leverkusen – who if you can be lucky to win 4-0, bloody well were – we held our own and landed a good few punches, in a group that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Champions League. If we’d won that Betis game away from home, I’d probably have watched it back 100 times by now.
The league campaign started with an undeserved loss to Hearts, as we had a good goal chalked off and Hearts winner came from a free kick that never was, and then we suddenly clicked with two 6-0 wins over St Mirren and Dundee and a League Cup win against Hearts that was 3-2 going on 10-2. The football played in those three games was simply food for the soul.
The first Derby of the season saw us have a second defeat of the season but even then, considering where we were, the performance was enough to continue the belief Ange was the real deal. We didn’t go to theRangers and look to counter; we took them on and from open play we more than matched them.
Since then, bar the only time I’ve struggled to see positives in our play, in a 1-0 defeat at Livingston, we have grown as a team. The St Johnstone game at Celtic Park and a 2-0 win seemed the first time all the parts, defensively, in midfield and in attack all seemed to click together. Since then, it has been rare we have not controlled the majority of our games, though the real turning point was probably the 2-1 win at Pittodrie and the away day ghost laid to rest.
And it should be added this has been against a backdrop of, had it not been for bad luck we’d have no luck at all, on the injury front. Indeed, we’ve been collecting hamstring injuries as if we’re hoarding ahead of a national shortage. Did I mention we had no head of Sports Science for nearly three months?
On the back of all this upheaval Ange Postecoglou, and a group of players who seem fully engaged with his process and his philosophy, have delivered some excellent football to watch, against a backrop of dreadful fortune, and now have a relationship with the support many would have said would take far longer to heal.
Postecoglou and those players have delivered the first silverware of the season, and Ange’s 55th as a Celtic manager, when they came from behind (had to be didn’t it?) to win the League Cup Final at Hampden last week. It was a just reward for all their efforts to date.
Even if that’s the last trophy of the season, there will be few within the support who won’t believe the Postecoglou process will ultimately lead to much more silverware heading for the Parkhead Trophy room, but I have a feeling we won’t have to wait – if the Board recognise what they have and the help he needs.
Reinforcements in key positions are required, particularly with the incessant energy Ange’s system demands of his players, and should that support arrive in January – that’s early in January Mr Nicholson – a six-point disadvantage in the league is far from insurmountable.
This time last year Christmas was an altogether more depressing time, hearts were broken. This year to save us from tears we gave ours to Postecoglou. We might not have realised it at the time but the Christmas gifts arrived for the Celtic support on 10th June, and there’s a feeling we may not even have unwrapped it all just yet.
A very Merry Christmas to you and yours from everyone at The Celtic Star. And an even happier New Year we hope!
Stay safe everyone.
Niall J
A very happy Christmas to all at Celtic star.