Former Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner has described the job that Ange Postecoglou has done in his first six months at his old club as ‘remarkable’.
Bonner, who spent his whole career at Celtic Park, is impressed by how the former Australia manager has managed to build such a strong relationship with the Celtic faithful inside his first 6 months in the job, especially after how the fans felt after the disaster of the previous season.
“I could be giving Ange probably an eight out of ten at the moment. From where they were to where they are, it’s remarkable. He’s got a great relationship with the support in a very short time, which is fairly unique as he’s only been in the door for six months,” the former Celtic and Ireland keeper told Herald Scotland. “Considering the way the fans were at the end of last season, for someone to come in and make that happen over such a short period has been dramatic.”
Going on to talk about how important beating Hibs was in the Premier Sports Cup Final a few weeks ago, and the big influence he has had throughout the club, the former goalkeeper who made 642 appearances for Celtic during his career said: “Winning the first trophy is massive for any Celtic manager. If they hadn’t won it against Hibs, then it would have been a big disappointment.
“We’d then be saying ‘He’s doing OK but…’. However, once you get that first trophy in the cabinet you are still in touch and challenging in the league, the picture looks different. I think they have done really well with the manager. He also seems to be something of a father figure. He was talking about the young lad Joey Dawson after the game at St Johnstone and was talking about how the B team plays in the same way. That means he has a big influence throughout the club, which is a big thing to do when you consider where he’s come from and so on.”
Ireland legend Bonner has been surprised by the workload taken on by Postecoglou since arriving from Japanese side Yokohama F. Marinos in June. A huge overhaul of the squad took place during the summer and the decision to retain the likes of John Kennedy and Gavin Strachan has surprised many onlookers who predicted he would bring his own backroom staff into the club when he arrived. On the surface it looks to many like Postecoglou handles a lot of things himself and Bonner agrees.
“He seems to handle a lot of it himself, which I’ve found the biggest surprise for a lot of us. He’s taken an awful lot on his shoulders. He’s had to deal with everything and he’s done it. He has not complained about it and he’s just got on with it.
“Celtic are also playing good football, that’s the other point. It’s not as if they’re scraping through. They’re playing decent football. But I think the fans buy into the way the team are playing. They are on the front foot all the time. There’s not a game where it’s slow and ponderous.
“Even on the counter attack, you can see that as soon as the goalkeeper gets the ball he wants to start an attack. I think that suits the DNA of Celtic.
“The manager has fitted into that well and I think he’s made players even better. The likes of Scales coming in has done really well. That’s a boy who’s come in from the League of Ireland and he looks like he can fit into the role the manager wants him to play. All of that is positive.”
An insightful review of Ange Postecoglou’s first 6 months in charge from Pat Bonner there and in all honesty I would have to agree with pretty much all of it. Bonner isn’t one of these pundits who likes to say controversial comments just to get attention and his summery of the job Ange has done so far is bang on.
I know it can be disappointing when we slip up in games against the likes of St Mirren a few weeks ago but in the grand scheme of things we are lucky to be where we are when you think of the total mess the club was in just over half a year ago. The fact Ange has been able to overhaul the whole squad and get them playing exciting attacking football in such a short space of time should be applauded.
On top of all that he has also had to deal with an incredible run of bad luck injury wise and still managed to come out the other side with a trophy already in the bag while maintaining a challenge for the league title. We also had some very encouraging performances in Europe and will be back on the continent in the New Year. Hopefully the club can back our manager in January and we can kick on after the winter break.
Conall McGinty
