ALL EYES ARE ON THE MAIN PRIZE
Postecoglou remains focused on claiming league title... despite personal accolades
ELEVEN months after flying into Glasgow amid a storm of indifference and outrage, Ange Postecoglou’s arrival into an elite band of Scottish managers was made official on Sunday night.
At a glitzy award ceremony at the city’s Hilton Hotel, the Celtic boss joined past winners including Brendan Rodgers, Gordon Strachan, Walter Smith, Steve Clarke and Steven Gerrard as PFA Scotland’s Manager of the Year.
His new, shiny cut-glass trophy will join the many past medals and coaching accolades the 56-year-old has won at South Melbourne, Brisbane Roar, and Yokohama F Marinos in a successful career that went largely under the radar on these shores until his surprise appointment to succeed Neil Lennon last June.
But reflecting on the progress of a team who finished last season 21 points behind title-winning Rangers and were in need of a complete overhaul will have to wait.
For Celtic’s newest awardwinning manager, there is no time to ponder the journey he and his players have been on when the focus remains on the road ahead.
Just one more win is required against Hearts at Celtic Park on Saturday to effectively clinch the Premiership title; ‘the big one’, as Postecoglou describes that particular prize having already lifted the League Cup in December.
‘I’ve always been the kind of guy who looks ahead at what’s next,’ the former Australia national team boss shrugged after beating Arbroath’s Dick Campbell, Ross County’s Malky Mackay and Paul Hartley of Cove Rangers to the award.
‘It’s not that I dismiss it. I take pride, because you are sharing the award with people.
‘I’m super proud — and humbled. But what remains is the experience rather than the hardware.
‘I’ve been fortunate in my career and all of those moments have been pretty special. One day, I will have the time to reflect — but that time is not now.
‘We have the big one to try to win in the next couple of weeks.’
It is common for managers winning awards to share the limelight with their support staff.
For Postecoglou, the sentiments seem particularly heartfelt as he paid tribute to colleagues, in particular coach John Kennedy, who has seen the ups and downs at Parkhead working under previous managers Ronny Deila, Rodgers and Lennon.
Jetting 5,700 miles from Japan to Scotland last summer to take charge of Celtic without appointing a single member of his own backroom staff, Postecoglou oversaw the club’s worst start to a league season in 23 years.
But his team kept the faith in their new boss and it proved well-founded as the Parkhead club set out on a run of 29 unbeaten league matches to move to the cusp of being crowned champions.
‘It’s been a challenging year, no doubt,’ reflected Postecoglou. ‘But from our perspective, the award is representative of a whole group who work really hard.
‘The jury was out on me, I understand that there wasn’t a great recognition of what I had done. When you come from the other side of the world, that’s understandable.
‘It was up to me to show people what I could do.
‘Particularly in a year most people thought would have been a transition year, we have managed to be really competitive.
‘It’s well chronicled that I came here alone, and it needed a leap of faith by a lot of people to buy into me and my vision for the club.
‘All of the staff have been outstanding with the way they have embraced what I wanted to do here.
‘The staff have been super important. That’s why most
One day I will have time to sit and reflect — but that time is not now
managers usually take a group of people with them. You need that strong support staff. ‘I did it in a different way. What I saw when I got here was, yes, the club had a tough year last year, but previously they’d had a lot of success. ‘John Kennedy, in particular, has been at this club a long time as a player and part of the coaching staff. ‘He’s seen the best this club can be and seen it through tough times as well. ‘I thought he would be a fantastic ally for me, to help get my message across to everyone. ‘I needed him to buy into my vision and the way I worked. ‘He embraced it from the start and he’s been a key person in the set-up.’ When picking up Manager of the Month prizes this season, Postecoglou has made sure his wider backroom staff have been pictured with him.
Accepting February’s award, he was shown with his first-team analysts, insisting he is merely the frontman for a dedicated group that are not always in the public eye.
‘I just wanted to show there’s a lot of people who work really hard,’ he explained.
‘They don’t get the recognition their work sometimes deserves and I’ve tried to emphasise it’s been a collective effort. It’s not one person making the difference. It’s certainly not just me.
‘It’s important those guys get the encouragement and reward for their efforts.
‘What’s most important to me is people believe in my vision and the support I’ve had since day one has been outstanding.’