Celtic fans who woke up this morning will have seen a flurry of headlines telling us that there was nothing to worry about in terms of the issue with Postecoglou’s European licenses, and normally that would be a weight off our minds.
One potential avenue of embarrassment and humiliation seems to have been closed off.
Which should fill us all with relief. Or should it?
Because there are contradictory views on this.
Some sources say he has the licenses and has had them for over a decade.
But that was certainly news to the Sydney Herald in 2020, when they wrote about how Australia’s top coaches lacked the qualification.
That article explicitly named Postecoglou as one of those bosses.
The websites which keep track of this stuff do not show his name on them. We have contradictory information, and until we have a definitive answer one way or another, be wary.
Celtic has briefed certain Scottish newspapers this morning but our assurance that we are “relaxed” on the matter.
Which isn’t, as I’m sure you noticed, a denial that any issue exists.
This is identical language to that which we used about Lennon in November last year and it is identical to the language we used in relation to the Eddie Howe saga. Remember all those reports about how “relaxed” we were about that?
When Celtic’s incompetent leadership is “relaxed” that’s when I really grow concerned.
The truth is, we are so far down the line now that even if something like this was uncovered late in the day, I believe Celtic would hire him anyway and try to fob us off with some work-around whilst they tried to sort themselves out.
I don’t believe our board has the balls to admit to a mistake at this stage.
They still refuse to accept any responsibility for the Howe collapse.
The much bigger issue for me has always been that we’re even pursuing this guy in the first place, and if the licensing issue is as resolved as The Daily Record’s source said today then we’re a step further down that road.
Which brings me no joy whatsoever.
One embarrassment may be averted.
The larger one is more likely than ever to be fully realised.