Celtic manager makes major Giovanni van Bronckhorst claim

Almost no one would have expected Ange Postecoglou to oversee this kind of success in his first season as the manager of Celtic. Having finished trophyless and 25 points behind Rangers last season, the club was in desperate need of some new direction, which they eventually found following the arrival of the former Australia national team boss, last summer.

In his first season in Scotland, Postecoglou has already won a Scottish League Cup and was on the path to a domestic treble as well but Celtic failed to get past the Rangers in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup, leaving those hopes up in smoke.

Nevertheless, Celtic look like favourites for the Premiership title, with a gap of six points between the current league leaders and the second-placed Rangers, with just four more games to go, giving the fans some much needed assurance and confidence.

With the 2021/22 season close to an end, Postecoglou was asked about who he’ll be voting for as the manager of the year, and he ended up naming four candidates, with one of them being the Rangers’ Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

Celtic manager names four candidates for manager of the year

As reported by Football Scotland, Postecoglou mentioned the names of Hearts’ Robbie Neilson, Livingston’s Davie Martindale and Ross County’s Malky Mackay, along with that of Van Bronckhorst, as he said:

"“I haven’t thought a lot about it but Malky has done a great job there.“He’s been brilliant for Ross County. At the start of the year, most people wrote them off a little bit.“He’s not only improved their results. He’s got them into the top six playing good football.“It’s a credit to him that he stuck to it. I’m sure he’ll be motivated to get them as high up the table as possible now. He’s been fantastic for them.“But Davie Martindale and Robbie Neilson have also done brilliant jobs at their respective clubs.“And Gio has done a good job too.“Everyone who has survived has done a good job – because quite a few of them haven’t!”"

With four games left to play in the Premiership, Postecoglou and his side will be looking to finish the season on a high note, by lifting the title.

It won’t be straightforward though, as they still have one more Glasgow Derby to navigate through, at Parkhead. And the Rangers got the better of Celtic at Hampden Park, they will be high on confidence going into that game.

But if Postecoglou is able to lead a Celtic side, who had finished 25 points behind the Rangers last season, to the Premiership title this time around, there is no question that he should be named as the manager of the year.