Celtic are the champions of Scotland. That must be music to the ears of the fans of the club around the world, especially knowing how the previous campaign unfolded for them. Coming into this one, there was very little hope and most expected this to be a transitional season, and the only thing that they could wish for was that the club would finish in a position that would set them up for future success.
A lot was not expected from Ange Postecoglou either, who was an unknown in European football, despite the incredible amount of success he had enjoyed in Australia and Japan.
Less than a year on, the manager is a cult figure amongst the fans and has created a bond with the supporters that we have not seen in a long time. On the other hand, not only is the team set up for future success, but they have won a double – Premiership and League Cup – this season itself.
Thus, this might be a good time to look back at some of the comments that pundits had made earlier on in the season about Postecoglou and his chances of success. Let’s pick some from a certain Kris Boyd, who had completely ruled out the manager even before the Premiership season had started. Leading up to the opening game week of this league campaign, the former Rangers star had written in his column in The Scottish Sun:
"ANGE POSTECOGLOU has no authority at Celtic, no backing, no support from the board — and virtually no chance of being successful.Unless things change, there’s no point in him being there.Right now, if I was him I’d pack my bags and go.Postecoglou might as well hand in his resignation and take himself back to Australia."
Boyd’s old Postecoglou comments go viral as Celtic win title
How quickly things change in football! Postecoglou has not overturned a 25-point deficit and guided Celtic back to the top of Scottish football but has even done it with a game to spare.
One can rest assured that there will be an absolute party atmosphere at Celtic Park when the players take to the pitch against Motherwell in the final game of the season this weekend.
Postecoglou has done the difficult part and gotten Celtic back to the top of the mountain once again. The trick now would be to keep on improving this team so that they can stay there. Fortunately, he does seem like the kind of manager who has the ability to do that.