Ex-Celtic Coach Confirms That Ange Postecoglou Is The Man With The Power At Celtic.

Although the boss spent the last few days back home in Australia, talking to the media and giving them all great interviews, which have generated a host of positive headlines for our club along the way, and in the process ended all the nonsense about him leaving for England which the media has been determined to promote.

For all that, I believe that Darren O’Dea gave the most interesting interview of the weekend when he talked about Ange and his various roles at the club.

That interview confirmed one of the things we’ve all been speculating on over the course of the last 12 or so months; how much control does Ange have over things at Parkhead, and how much does he involve himself in stuff outside of the normal “head coach” remit which is focussed only on the first team squad? And the answer is … he’s the man.

Ange, it seems, takes an interest in every aspect of the footballing operation.

He is, in many ways, the director of football.

That’s important because, of course, that position had been earmarked for filling before he took the job.

After he was in it, a plan which had been put in place over the preceding year was utterly cast aside. We knew that had happened before we even properly understood that the man in the dugout was responsible for.

There was a period early last season where it seemed that the board was simply dithering with the appointment … but it became clear as the season wore on that in fact Ange was taking such a hands-on role that the post would have been redundant.

More than that, though; it hinted at Ange having played his negotiating hand very, very well indeed upon his being offered the job. He wasn’t just some guy who grabbed the opportunity and was grateful for it ever having come along. He made sure that he had total control, and the authority to change, after a period of observation, whatever he liked.

That’s why we’ve seen him implementing his backroom changes over the summer. It’s why he now has total authority over transfers. No manager since Martin O’Neill has been given such command over the Celtic landscape, and no manager since Stein has so comfortably assumed the role as the front man for the whole of the club.

Think about the role of Michael Nicholson.

That’s a guy who we were conditioned, by the Lawwell era, to expect to be out front and centre of the club in the papers and doing interviews every chance he got.

Nicholson has said and done none of that.

Is that because he’s a coward? Or that he has nothing to say? I’ve accused him of all of that and more.

But what if the truth is somewhat different?

What if we now have a CEO who spends less of his time on public relations and more of it in doing the job he’s paid well for?

What if we have a CEO here who knows the limits of his own ability and experience and keeps out of any area in which there are greater experts in those fields?

Perhaps his reluctance to get in front of the media is a realisation that a CEO doesn’t actually belong there but the manager of the club does? Because at the end of the day, who could be a better public face of Celtic than Ange Postecoglou?

If that’s the case then the people running our club are more professional than they been in years and smarter too, because they realise that a man like Ange can rebuild Celtic far better than they know how to do.

That’s what he’s been doing.

And that’s the best thing has happened to Celtic in years.

More on that tomorrow.