On the weekend where The Mooch loses his mind completely and attacks Chris Sutton for next to nothing,
Ange has had to endure the usual nonsense from the press about when he’s leaving, what does he think of idiotic managers making stupid points about him and the team, and on and on and on. As frustrating as he finds it all, his responses are still delivered with a measure of class that you cannot teach and you cannot fake.
Asked to respond to the clownish comments from people offering to “drive him to the airport”, the big man laughed and answered the question not only beautifully, but with a reminder that he knows what’s important and who his only real constituency are.
“I wouldn’t struggle for a lift, mate,” he joked. “I’ve got plenty of people who’d take me, or I could drive myself. Listen, again it’s all stuff that’s not on my radar. My measure is the people who love this football club. That’s the only feedback I’m looking for. They’ll tell me how I’m going more than anyone else. That’s always going to be my barometer.”
This one of the reasons we love this guy, why we have such respect for him. His comments about the way the whole club wants to work for the fans are more music to our ears.
“They are not just appreciating the fact that we are winning games of football,” he said of the supporters, and the sheer numbers; we’re on course to be only the fifth team in Europe to have had a million fans at our games.
“I think they are appreciating how the boys are playing and they are excited by that. For me, that’s the greatest reward. It’s always been my barometer during my whole career. Fans will tell me how I’m going, more than the table or anything else. We can be winning games of football but if our supporters don’t like what they see then I’ll get that feedback for sure.”
His answer to questions about how the chances of us not winning the league are low was perfect, and he knew what that question was an attempt do but still carried off his answer with a measure of calm and message discipline.
“We’ve got to win tomorrow … we want to finish the season strong – stronger than how we started. If we win all of our games, we don’t have to worry about anything else or anyone else or what anyone else is saying, or forecasting in terms of percentages. If we win every game between now and the end of the year, here’s a percentage for you … 100 per cent we will win the league. So why would we think beyond that?”
This man handles the press every bit as well as his so-called rivals do it badly.
The idea, as proposed by Jackson earlier in the week, that he ducked out of the media conference last week because he was worried about the questions looks even more ridiculous today than it sounded then, and it sounded pretty daft.
He could run rings round these guys.
Even when they don’t want him talking directly to us, he’s doing it and he’s doing it brilliantly.
As to how it compares with the guy across town … devastating.
Some schmuck had Ange down as the next First Minister last week . I know this much ,that Ange would be an outstanding adviser to any government regarding football matters such is his intelligence and all round street smarts ! Listen to him speak and immediately know that this is a guy who is prepared and ready for any situation … The sign on his office door should read ‘education department ‘!
Ange v Beale is Day v Night. Transparency v darkness.
The Celtic fans know what we have got and we love and appreciate the man.
Similarly, Ange knows what he has got and he loves and appreciates us.
It is a perfect union, solid and trustworthy, and may it last for a very long time.
THE BIG MAN IS EARNING RESPECT WITH EVERY PRESS CONFERENCE FROM THE ONES THAT MATTER,AFTER ALL OT ALWAYS BEGINS AT HOME,THICKO JACKSON,THATS WHY I DONT BUY YOUR SHIT COMIC.
Ange sussed out this bunch of blue lovers pretty quickly every question they ask has double meaning.Ange is far to clever for them and wont take there bullshit
He’s not just a good manager, who may become a ‘great’, but a decent, honest bloke.