Ange Postecoglou is days away from being announced as the new manager of Celtic. The 55-year-old dramatically emerged as the frontrunner in the wake of the Eddie Howe deal collapsing and now it looks as if the former Australia manager will be named as the permanent successor to Neil Lennon this week. The Daily Record have an exclusive report that states that Celtic have had Postecoglou’s name on their managerial shortlist for months and the events that lead to talks with Howe stalling meant that the Yokohama F.Marinos head coach became the favourite for the job.
The Record state that the club have actually had their eyes on Postecoglou for some time, eying him up in the event of a breakdown with preferred candidate, Howe. Whether you believe this or not is another matter. It is likely that given Fergal Harkin’s involvement with City Football Group and is imminent appointment as Celtic’s Sporting Director, he was able to inform the club of Postecoglou’s talents.
For Ange, this is likely to be the appointment of a lifetime, something that he will not turn down but the hope is that he can resist the board’s insistence to use either Kennedy or Strachan in his coaching team and find trusted lieutenants of his own.
The club are due to undertake a colossal rebuild with players expected to come and go; however, the work should have been in place weeks ago, the delay could prove fatal to our Champions League ambitions and already leave the new manager already on the back foot.
Hopefully this radical, left field appoint envigorates the support and we can celebrate success under Ange but it cannot be a case of the Australian having players bought for him that he doesn’t want or that are picked by the outgoing CEO already.