“It looks to me as though the fans have really taken to Ange,” Martin O’Neill

“It looks to me as though the fans have really taken to Ange, and they are willing to give him every backing necessary,” Martin O’Neill…

Angeball is fast gaining pace with football people throughout the game in Scotland and beyond. After a topsy-turvy start to life in Glasgow’s goldfish bowl, Ange Postecoglou is setting about creating something special at Celtic Park. With the team just four points adrift at the summit of the SPFL, it is a chasm that has been bridged after last season’s mammoth twenty-five points in second place.

One such admirer of the work that has been done during that time is former Celtic manager and club legend, Martin O’Neill. O’Neill himself was faced with a huge task when he first came to Celtic from Leicester City, after the club was left in disarray following the collapse under the John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish experiment. O’Neill galvanised a group of players shot of confidence and with a few additions went on to turn things around, enjoying a trophy-laden treble in his inaugural season as Celtic boss.

O’Neill has spoken about the current situation at Parkhead and insists he is enjoying Angeball. Speaking to The Sunday Post, the Irishman said: “It looks to me as though the fans have really taken to Ange, and they are willing to give him every backing necessary. He had a shaky start, but he is now through that and things are on the up. The style of football is good and the players are responsive to his methods. So, to be where they are now, – when you consider he didn’t know his backroom staff and had to bring in a number of first-team players – he can be satisfied.”

“Of course, this is just the start. As manager of Celtic, it’s all about what you do in the next game. And then the game after that. It’s relentless.You just need to try to win as many games of football as possible. When I took over as Celtic manager, I was up against an excellent Rangers team. They had won the title from us the previous season by 21 points. Last season, the gap was 25 points.”

“So, back in 2000, my view was that we had to hit the ground running. To do that we needed a few new players, and we needed to get more out of the ones we already had. We brought in Chris Sutton, Neil Lennon, Alan Thompson and Didier Agathe. We also got plenty out of the likes of Stiliyan Petrov, Johan Mjallby, Jackie McNamara and Lubo Moravcik.”

He said: “In our first game against Rangers, we managed to beat them 6-2. That gave us so much confidence. On reflection, I can’t underestimate how important that victory was for everyone at the football club. When we next met them, and lost 5-1 at Ibrox in the November, it didn’t dent us too much. We were hurting, but we still had our confidence. We felt we could go on and win the Premier League. It’s all about recovering from setbacks, and not dwelling on them. Ange appears to be able to do that. And that’s a good thing.”

The former Ireland manager also watched the game against Dundee on Sunday and was mightily impressed by Kyogo Furuhashi and Jota. He added: “I thought Celtic played splendidly, in particular Jota and Kyogo Furuhashi. Now, it looks as though both players could be blown over by a strong puff of wind, but they are extremely talented. They’ve both done brilliantly well so far. That said, there is a long, long way to go before they’ll be up with the Henrik Larssons of this world.”

“But they are both exciting footballers. The supporters seem to really enjoy them, and it’s great for fans to have heroes, and know they are going to be entertained. There is no doubt both players have been excellent recruits.”

O’Neill says that he will be watching eagerly in the weeks and months ahead to see where Ange can take this Celtic team. He continued: “It’s good to have European football, and the team has recovered well after losing the first two games of their section in the Europa League. Back-to-back wins against Ferencvaros mean they will either stay in the Europa League or drop down into the Conference League for the knock-out stages. That’s all good.

“But it is about winning the Premiership. When I was the Celtic manager, I wanted to do well in Europe and we were well aware of the club’s fantastic history of winning the European Cup in 1967, and reaching the Final three years later. We tried to win every game, and if we were knocked out of Europe we would be hurting. But we knew the priority was to win the title.That was particularly the case in my first season. Rangers had won the previous two titles, and we didn’t want them making it three-in-a-row and really going on a roll.”

“We had to stop them, and stem the tide domestically. And, thankfully, we did. I’m sure Ange will be thinking along the same lines. That’s what the supporters will want. Rangers stopped 10-in-a-row last season, and Celtic won’t want them to win the title again this season.”

The man who guided Celtic to a Uefa Cup Final in 2003 contends that the Ibrox outfit losing their manager could swing the momentum in Celtic’s favour. He said: “You have to be aware of what is going on elsewhere, but you can’t let it dominate your thoughts. Steven Gerrard has just moved on, and that might see Rangers doing very well in the next few weeks. Or the upheaval might see them suffer a wee bit, and they have a setback. At this stage, we don’t know for sure what the reaction is going to be. Either way, Celtic need to concentrate on themselves and make sure their own house is in order. That’s always the best way to go about your business.”

O’Neill himself will know all too well that in this league it is about momentum, and Celtic certainly look to be gaining some. Depending on how the new man that comes in across the city does, Celtic need to just remain focused on the task in hand. If we stay within touching distance until January, with the help of new additions we could well shift the momentum of this entire campaign to our side.

Paul Gillespie