Ange Postecoglou did a fantastic job in the two years that he was the manager of Celtic. When he arrived, not many people gave him a chance. At the end of the day, he was a relative unknown who had achieved success in Japan and Australia, but never even managed a top-flight club in Europe. Thus, it was going to be a big task for him at Parkhead, where the expectation is to win every game domestically.
On top of that, Celtic were coming off their worst season in recent memory. And they saw key players like Scott Brown, Kris Ajer, Odsonne Edouard and Ryan Christie leave that summer.
Postecoglou saw himself in charge of a team in need of a rebuild. But then, that also gave him an opportunity to shape it to fit his vision and he did exactly that.
Over the next two years, Celtic went from underdogs to unstoppable. They won five trophies during that period of time and Postecoglou would leave days after guiding them to a historic domestic treble. He clearly still has a lot of affection for the club though.
Ange admits his forever love for Celtic
As reported by the Daily Record, Postecoglou said to Sky Sports about his time at Celtic:
"“I loved my time there. I loved living in Glasgow and I loved working at that football club. I follow their results, I try to watch their games every week.“I’ve got a connection with that club now forever. It’s just a fantastic football club. Just the way people treated and supported me the whole time – not just me but my whole family. It’s a real strong connection I have there.”"
There is no question that a lot of Celtic fans were not happy that Postecoglou decided to leave the club. But at the same time, they understood his decision to do so.
Postecoglou is approaching 60 years of age and was probably not going to get another chance to manage one of the traditional Big Six clubs in the Premier League. A few years ago, he was unlikely to ever get a chance to even manage in the English top flight. So, most Celtic fans are happy that he is proving to be a success at Tottenham Hotspur.