AJAX MODEL CAN HELP MY BHOYS BUILD
ANGE POSTECOGLOU reckons the Ajax approach can offer Celtic Champions League inspiration.
The Parkhead boss has taken the club back on to the top stage of European competition for the first time in five years.
After Saturday’s home Premiership encounter against Motherwell, the champions will head back into continental action with a clash on the road against RB Leipzig.
Postecoglou, who has seen his side take one point from games against Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk, is determined for the Hoops to make an impact in the competition.
Although there is a huge gulf between the finances of Europe’s elite and other clubs, he insists the Dutch champions have shown it’s possible to compete.
Speaking to Stan Sport Football in his homeland, the Aussie said: “You can do one of two things.
“You can sort of say, ‘That’s a gap that will never be bridged because ultimately the rich clubs will continue to get bigger’.
“Or you can take the same view as I have that you chip away at it. Every
year you go there and you make a little bit more of an impact.
“The more you’re at that level, the more belief you gain as a club and a group.
“People say Ajax have sold so many players in recent times but are consistently making the Champions League and made it to a semi-final.
“There was probably a three or four-year period when they were building that team that they didn’t even win the Dutch league.
“But they had discipline to say, ‘Well, we’re going to play young players’.
“You look at a club like that and they’re chipping away at it.
“That’s where I see a club like Celtic. You go into the competition, yes for experience but also to make an impact and chip away at bigger clubs.”