Although many Celtic fans are upset by the departure of Ange Postecoglou, others recognise the massive turnaround he achieved with the club, against all odds and expectations. There is now more background information which helps to understand the decisions made by the Australian manager.
It was the last couple of weeks of the season that has irked fans. The times when Postecoglou said he wasn’t focussing on the exit rumours but was fully concentrated on the Scottish Cup Final and securing that historic 8th treble. The swift exit afterwards to Tottenham Hotspur indicated there was a lot more going on behind the scenes.
An excellent article by David Davutovic on Postecoglou and his drive to manage in Europe and ultimately in the English Premier League has been published. It gives quite an insight into the man and events over the last season and is well worth a read to understand his point of view better.
As reported by Keep Up, Brighton & Hove Albion, Wolves and Southampton are believed to have made a play for Postecoglou in the last nine months. But the Australian manager was adamant he did not want to leave Celtic in the lurch.
Postecoglou rejected three Premier League clubs to stay at Celtic
Although a role in the Premier League was a target, Postecoglou didn’t want to leave Celtic in a bad position by leaving during a season. It looks like he didn’t want to do a Brendan Rodgers or a Steven Gerrard.
That’s quite commendable and at least he didn’t leave before the league was won or in the run up to the Scottish Cup final. Either would have been highly disruptive, as was the case when Rodgers left. And while the news of Postecoglou’s exit came quickly after the final, you could argue that gives Celtic maximum time to bring in a replacement ahead of next season.
Some might say Postecoglou turned down the roles as they were too risky or not ‘big’ enough clubs. Perhaps there is some truth to that. But both Wolves and Brighton & Hove Albion were reasonably well established in the Premier League and he wasn’t going to get many better offers. Opting for Tottenham Hotspur may yet be debatable as to whether it is really a better offer in the long term.
In any case there is a degree of respect for the Celtic fans, players and club in his decisions. It looks like discussions with Tottenham Hotspur had been going on for some time. But that should not come as a major surprise. A move of that magnitude is not completed in a couple of days.
Given all that and the interest of three clubs, his exit shouldn’t have come as a shock to the board at Celtic. Our hope is that their search for a replacement is well underway and researched, rather than early thoughts on a notepad at this stage. The fans wait for news expectantly.