Chris Sutton believes Celtic can pip our main rivals to the title this season with the addition of our new Japanese Bhoys. Sutton was highly sceptical of any Celtic success this season due to the disastrous start following the failed pursuit of Eddie Howe as boss. Ange Postecoglou was just in the door and was required to set about building a title challenging squad in a matter of weeks.
The Greek-Aussie rose to the bar set by the Celtic hierarchy and the support after a terrible year before the big man arrived. Postecoglou whipped a group consisting of the nucleus left behind by his predecessor’s and a raft of new signings. Wantaway playing staff were shown the exit door and thanked for their service over the years, whilst new imports from various parts of the world were introduced to one another at Lennoxtown.
In a whirlwind few months we qualified for the Europa League and were narrowly beaten in the League by our fierce rivals. After that, we ran a strong Europa group consisting of Champions League class teams to the wire, unfortunately missing out through our own implosion. Regardless, we were fantastic to watch at times and took the game to all our European opponents – even the Bundesliga giants, Bayer Leverkusen.
Having been plagued and hindered by recurring injuries (mostly hamstring), we fought on to get ourselves to a League Cup Final against Hibs which we duly won with two great goals from our own superstar, Kyogo Furuhashi. We have fell a couple more points behind in the League race because of a depleted and fatigued squad. However, there is still only six points in it at this juncture, giving cause for optimism as we are in a different hemisphere from where we expected to be at the halfway point this season.
Now club legend, Sutton, has confirmed that he thinks with the new additons from the J-League in Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate, and Yosuke Ideguchi, we are in with a legitimate shout of pipping it at the post this year.
Writing in his RecordSport column, Sutton said:
“The Celtic manager’s track record so far in the market suggests he can be trusted to get it spot on. And, if he does get it right again this month, the once unlikely thought of Postecoglou’s team mounting a serious title challenge in his first year and, even winning it, is distinctly possible.
“If the Japanese boys are an upgrade on what Celtic have at the moment, and given Postecoglou’s record so far you think they would be, they are seriously tooling up. Ground has to be made up in the title race, but given the chaos of the summer, Celtic have done well to stay in touch with 18 games to go including three more cracks at Rangers.
“Postecoglou’s first batch of signings have given them a chance of an unlikely title win. If the next lot are as good, they might just be able to pull it off.”
The momentum definitely seems to be swinging our way in terms of recruitment and the feel-good factor around the club has returned, following the cup win and now three new exciting signings. The question is if Celtic can transfer this onto the park in the New Year and hunt down the opposition to take our crown back?
Good morning. Here is my @Record_Sport column on the New Year positivity on the recruitment front at Celtic. Ange Postecoglou’s recruitment has been excellent so far and if the January signings fire then Celtic have a chance of putting Rangers back in their place…your thoughts? https://t.co/KsaZlj7XrA
— Chris Sutton (@chris_sutton73) January 1, 2022
