ANGE’S EURO ELITE PRIDE
FROM BACK PAGE he aims to ensure the Parkhead side compete at the highest level when his dream becomes reality.
The Aussie is eyeing Argentinian left-back Alexandro Bernabei, with the 21-year-old poised to quit Lanus in his homeland and move to Europe.
It’s understood Celtic are also deep in negotiations to finalise a deal for former Dundee United keeper Benjamin Siegrist, 30, on a free transfer.
Postecoglou has other recruitment plans ongoing as he hunts key additions for the Premiership title defence and return to the group phase.
The manager says it’s going to be surreal taking his place in the technical area for the big Champions League nights which might give him an out-of-body experience as it did when he first led Australia out at the 2014 World Cup.
Postecoglou explained: “I remember at the World Cup in Brazil. I’m sitting on the touchline and we played against Chile in the first game.
“I remember thinking: ‘What the hell am I doing here? I should be sitting in the stand watching.’
“I felt like someone was going to tap me on the shoulder and say: ‘The game is starting, get off the pitch.’
“It’s going to be the same with the Champions League. I know there will be a moment when the whistle goes and I think: ‘What am I doing here?’
“It doesn’t feel like this should be happening but that’s the beauty of it. You can have that ambition.
“I have never doubted my ability or my belief that I could perform at that level but how can you chart that course?
“You can have that dream of winning Wimbledon or The Open and you can do that with performances and working hard.
“But as a manager you need other people to take a chance on you to make those steps.
“Obviously you’ve got to take every opportunity that’s given to you but there isn’t a manager who can say: ‘In five years’ time, I’m going to be coaching in the Champions League.’
“That doesn’t happen, certain things have got to happen.
“The fact I’ll get that opportunity is a great weight of responsibility because that’s where this football club wants to be and needs to be.
“It’s also the opportunity that I have always craved for myself.”
Postecoglou will be the first Aussie to coach in the Champions League group stage and admits the outings will just mark another incredible chapter to his Parkhead story so far.
The title triumph which got his club there has already inked his name into club folklore forever and, speaking on Sky Sports, he added: “That’s the stuff that really hits me the hardest.
“I take myself back 50 years to when I was six or seven years old, sitting with my dad watching football from this side of the world.
“To think that’s come to reality is just beyond comprehension for me.
“When we’re young and people talk to you about how you can be what you want to be, then life has a tendency of trying to suck that away from you.
“It’s not always going to happen but the possibilities are it can happen and it did for me.
“There is no story you could write or road you could map out that allows a six-year-old boy who is growing up in Melbourne to become the manager of Celtic and end up being champions of Scotland. It doesn’t happen.”