After months of being linked with Eddie Howe, Celtic were handed a massive blow when it became clear that talks had broken down with the former Bournemouth manager and he would not be taking the Parkhead job. Since then, Ange Postecoglou has emerged as the favourite to become the club’s next manager.
Now, one cannot be blamed for not being familiar with Postecoglou’s work. He has spent the majority of his career in Australia and is currently the manager of J1 League side, Yokohama F. Marinos.
He has been successful wherever he has been though. Under him, Yokohama F. Marinos won their first J1 League title since 2004, South Melbourne won 3 of their 7 National Soccer League titles as well as their only OFC Champions League, Brisbane Roar won 3 of their 5 A-League titles and the Australian national team won their only AFC Asian Cup in history.
In his only job in Europe till now, with Panachaiki in the Greek Third division back in 2008, Postecoglou had them in contention for promotion before a falling out with the club management ended his tenure. And all this has been achieved while playing a relentless attacking style of football that has been compared to that of Marcelo Bielsa’s at Leeds United.
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Celtic handed Postecoglou boost
Over the past couple of days, there were suggestions that Postecoglou does not have a UEFA Pro License, which could make a move to Celtic difficult. But it looks like that might not be the case after all.
As reported by Daily Record, former A-League chief Archie Fraser said:
"“Ange was one of two coaches who had done their UEFA Pro Licence at that stage.“The only other person was Ernie Merrick – a Scot from Ayrshire – and who managed Melbourne Victory and had been since the first year of the A-League in 2005.“They remained the only two holders of the UEFA badge for a few years. I remember holding talks with the FFA technical director Han Berger about lifting the bar on A-League coaches and wanting them to have the Pro Licence.“We had been hiring coaches without the credentials to make the game better yet here was Ange who was one of only two guys to have the UEFA licence.“Whether he was directed to renew it as an Asian Football Confederation Pro-Licence when he took over as Australia boss I’m not sure.“But he would certainly have required to still hold a Pro licence to take on his current job with Yokohama in the J-League.”"
It goes without saying that this would be a boost to the club. Now, it remains to be seen whether the club can get the move over the line.
Even if Postecoglou was to be the man in the Parkhead dugout, it would still take a bit of time to get the deal done. And with next season approaching fast, and a massive overhaul of the squad almost on hold due to the absence of a manager, things need to be done as swiftly as possible.