The London club has a habit of chewing up and spitting out managers at will. It also has a reputation for being “difficult” in the transfer market.
By difficult, I mean unrealistic. And bargain hunting. And whilst Ange may well believe that he is heading to the Promised Land in terms of paying whatever he wants for players.
The latest runour emanating from Spurs is that they are trying to offer less than the market value for players.
A “discounted price”. WTF is that anyway? At least at Celtic when he wanted a player the ub went out, paid the money and the player was his.
There was no messing about. But already Ange is seeing what Spurs is all about. His first transfer target identified and they waste no time in haggling over the price.
It’s not a good look and, to be honest, no one can say he wasn’t warned. But, as people commonly say, you make your bed, you lie in it.
Let’s hope the bed that Ange Postecoglou has made at Spurs doesn’t get too uncomfortable.
After the craziness of Ange Postecoglou leaving Celtic for Spurs, speculation has been mounting over whether or not he will come calling for Kyogo Furuhashi.
Reports yesterday suggested that Ange could come in with a £20m bid for the Celtic talisman but until the Australian returns from his holiday, we will need to wait and see how that pans out.
But journalist, David Friel has delivered an update on the speculation that will delight the Celtic support.
Friel said [Clyde 1 Superscoreboard], “It was a story one of my colleagues down south at the weekend saying that Kyogo would be Ange Postecoglou’s number one target.
“I don’t think anybody is really surprised by that. He’s been the poster boy for Celtic in this period. He has been the number one striker. Scored so many goals in big games.
“We were speaking to Ange at the PFA awards a couple of weeks ago and he spoke about how Kyogo’s got levels to go yet. He thinks there is more to come from him. He’s only 28, he’s gonna be 29 in January. He thinks he’s still to reach his peak.
“So it’s no surprise that he would be keen to get him. And a lot of people are saying he may be a replacement for Harry Kane. I don’t believe that would be the case. I think he’d want him as a squad member.
“But the premise of the story was today that a lot of clubs are interested in Kyogo. A lot of clubs from the top five leagues. I believe several clubs from Italy, Spain and the Bundesliga have scouted him this season.
“But what I would also say is that Kyogo is very, very happy at Celtic. He is in no rush to leave. He is not going to agitate for a move. He’s a consummate professional.
“We’ve seen him speak through a translator, he’s always very respectful. He also has two years left on his deal, there would be no rush to sell him. I think it would take a huge amount to sell him but there clearly is interest in Kyogo.”
This will be of a huge relief to the Celtic support. We all know the close bond that was shared between Ange and the Celtic striker.
At least we know that he is happy at the club and wants to stay and should a bid come from the former Celtic manager, the board must tell him where to shove it.
The season of 2022/23 will be remembered in folklore by the Celtic fans. A world-record eighth domestic treble was won by Ange Postecoglou’s team. The performances were relentless, and the results were amazing.
So here, we take a look back at the incredible season Celtic had in 2022/23.
Celtic in the Scottish Premiership
Celtic began the defence of their SPFL title with a 2-0 home win against Aberdeen. The following six fixtures saw six more victories which included emphatic wins against Kilmarnock (5-0), Dundee United (9-0) and Rangers (4-0).
A 2-0 defeat against St Mirren in Paisley gave the team a wake-up call and from there they went on a relentless 27-game unbeaten run where points were only dropped against Rangers at Ibrox in the New Year Glasgow Derby (2-2) and Motherwell at home (1-1) in April 2023.
A 2-0 win the following week against Hearts at Tynecastle officially crowned Celtic the Champions. A defeat against Rangers (3-0) was followed up by another at Hibs (4-2) and sandwiched between those two results was a 2-2 draw with St Mirren at Celtic Park. Those results didn’t matter as the league was over but the Champions still finished off the season in style with a 5-0 home win over Aberdeen on Trophy Day.
Celtic in the League Cup
Entering the competition in the second round, Celtic defeated Ross County 4-1 in Dingwall.
A trip to Motherwell awaited the Bhoys where they took care of The Steelmen with ease in a 4-0 rout.
The semi-final at Hampden in February pitted Ange Postecoglou’s team against Derek McInnes’ Kilmarnock. A 2-0 win saw Celtic through to the final with goals from Daizen Maeda and the soon-to-be-sold Giorgos Giakoumakis.
In the Final, Michael Beale’s Rangers awaited. Kyogo Furuhashi was the hero of the hour with a double to seal a 2-1 win and wrap up the first piece of silverware of the season.
Celtic in the Scottish Cup
A fourth-round 5-0 home win against Greenock Morton set Celtic on The Road to Hampden in January. The fifth round saw a visit of high-flying St Mirren.
The Buddies were performing above expectations in the league but Celtic made easy work of them with a 5-1 home win.
The quarter-final saw a trip to Tynecastle as Celtic skipped past Hearts with ease with a fine 3-0 win.
That result set Celtic up for a trip to Hampden to face Rangers. In another must-win game for Michael Beale’s men, they failed to beat Celtic again as a 16th-minute Jota goal sent Celtic into the final with a chance to win a world-record eighth domestic treble.
The final awaits. Celtic were to face Scottish Championship side Inverness Caley Thistle. The Highlanders put up a plucky fight and it took Celtic 38 minutes to break them down. Kyogo Furuhashi opened the scoring with Liel Abada and Jota sealing the win to wrap up the Treble.
Celtic in the Champions League
The Champions League group stages beckoned and Real Madrid, RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk awaited the Hoops.
Celtic faced the Galacticos at Parkhead in the opening group game and despite matching the Spanish giants and being unlucky not to take the lead on a few occasions, Madrid’s class shone through to win 3-0.
A 1-1 away draw against Donetsk put Celtic’s first point on the board but a 3-1 away defeat and a 2-0 home loss in the doubleheader against Leipzig meant that we had to beat the Ukrainian side and get a least a point against Madrid in The Bernabeu to progress from the group.
A 1-1 draw with Shakhtar at Celtic Park was followed up with a 5-1 loss at Real and Celtic finished bottom of the group with just two points.
Ange Postecoglou’s side earned a lot of plaudits for sticking to his attacking style and showing that his Celtic team can go up against the best in Europe and put on a performance. Unfortunately, being wasteful in front of goal was our eventual undoing but next season, the group stages await us again where a new manager will look to improve on our results in Europe this season
As the Celtic managerial hunt continues, one of the names that has been linked to the club in the past, Jesse Marsch has once again been linked to the vacant managerial post.
At the time Marsch was the manager of RB Salzburg and was identified as one of the young, up-and-coming managers at that time.
Marsch was going through his UEFA Pro License, which Celtic had sponsored when he was asked if he had heard about the speculation that he was one of the names the club was looking at when we were searching for a manager in 2021.
His reply was very interesting. Marsch said [BBC Sportsound], “I’ve heard. Yeah, I mean, it’s an honour for me. I have obviously over the years, known a lot about Celtic and specifically Celtic and Rangers and the Old F*rm and I knew Mo Johnston in MLS. Played against him. I know him personally. I’ve spoken to him about his experiences in Celtic and Rangers. I heard some incredible stories.
“And then obviously when I spent the two years in the course there, I really got the sense as to what an important club Celtic is inside Scotland and what it means to the people of Glasgow.
“Three, four years ago, being linked with a club like Celtic would have been literally an impossibility for me. And now that this is where I am, I always just try to look at it as what would the project be like?
“Would we have similar ideas as to how to build it the right way? How to invest in the academy. How to invest in young players. How to create this development process that I’m talking about and not just focus on winning.
“I know that when you’re the coach of Celtic, that winning is the most important thing.”
When asked if it was a move that would interest him, Marsch said, “Yeah, I mean, I know enough about it to say, of course, it’s interesting, but please, what I don’t want is to put any pressure or to say anything outside of anything other than it’s an amazing club.
“Of course, I’d be honoured to even be considered, but I also have a job to do here. My way of working is really to focus on the job that I’m doing and concentrate on the moment and the more that I do that, then the more these other possibilities can arise.
“For me right now my full concentration is in finishing my year here in Salzburg, and then I’ll evaluate in summer what the possibilities might be for a potential next step.”
Marsch is currently unemployed after being sacked from Leeds United earlier in the season but questions remain if he could cut it at Celtic after his time at Elland Road proved fruitless.
With the club still being linked to some of the biggest names for the job, there is no doubt that the club still poses as a major attraction to a variety of managers.
