Soccer Football - Scottish Premiership - Celtic v Heart of Midlothian - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - March 8, 2023 Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou before the match Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith
This is one of two stories I’m going to do on our former manager today; this is the angry one. I’m smarting over comments which were plastered all over the media yesterday and this morning about his calling Celtic no-hopers in the Champions League.
He made a comment which I thought was pretty daft and gave the media license to write these headlines but they know full well they are misrepresenting his views.
“Ange Postecoglou opens up on Celtic ‘zero hope’ Champions League factor” screams a typical headline, that one from The Evening Times. They know exactly how that headline reads, they know exactly what the connotations of it are, and they also know that when you look at his comments that is not at all what he was saying, even if he used those words.
“Champions League football is just unrelenting, it’s fantastic, it’s confronting,” he said to GOAL, in comments I am very sure he already regrets.
“It challenges you in every way. Sometimes you’re going in to the most hostile of environments, facing the best footballers on the planet with zero hope of achieving anything but believing that you can. It’s also very addictive. You want to go back and do it again and again. It is the pinnacle of club football.”
That single throwaway line about coming up against “the best footballers on the planet with zero hope” is all our media needed for another series of stinging headlines and stories about our European record.
But this is a classic example of someone using an exaggerated phrase to make a general point and having it blown out proportion.
All through this guy’s managerial career, he has talked about how he is looking for every advantage that he can get, that in the end a football match comes down to eleven players versus eleven players where anything can happen. He’s come out swinging against every club and team he’s ever faced, and he never believes, and never has, in “zero hope.”
He has gone from coaching football in Australia to the Premier League in England at a huge club, and he’s coached one of the smaller nations at a World Cup Finals.
This guy has laughed in the face of “zero hope”. He literally does not believe such a thing exists, and our media knows full well that he doesn’t believe such a thing exists.
He sat in front of them before every one of our Champions League games and told them straight that he was playing to win and that if we did our jobs we had a chance.
We rocked Madrid back on their heels at Celtic Park; was that the action of a team with “zero hope” or the actions of a manager who didn’t think we could do it? This is a joke.
The media is taking the piss with these stories.
These aren’t remotely serious. Ange Postecoglou is not going to sit in front of a media outlet and tell them, with a straight face, meaning it when he says that he considered his team incapable of getting any kind of result.
Those comments were probably not out of his mouth before he wished he could shove them back in there, and there isn’t a person who read those remarks who does not know that full well.
They got their anti-Celtic story, at his expense I might add. They have no shame.
Yeh tho they’re always quick tae tell us how the ibrox club were only ‘ a win ‘ from gettin tae the 93 CL final. Tho nae mention, that the ‘win’ they needed and dependin on how results went elsewhere, was against a very young and mostly inexperienced CSKA Moscow side at ibrox in the last game, where they had tae win, but only managed a draw. Tae me that’s more of a failure than an ‘achievement’. Just like the rest of their 90’s European campaigns, which despite their huge spendin were frankly an embarrassment.
James,as far as I’m concerned AP has absolutely nothing to do with CFC anymore ,and if he’s asked a question by these pricks about celtic all he has to say is no comment end of,he was great while he was with us but I now have absolutely no interest in whatever he does in the EPL.
I get the point your making about the SMSM, James. But there’s too many folk suffering from “Post-Angelo Fever”. He effed off, left us with the snake Rodger$ – let him go. I couldn’t care less about him, Spurs or the EPL.
From 1997 when revamped to allow Liverpool back in only one team have won the Champions League outside of the BIG5 leagues. Porto. Its the biggest scam in sport. Think about that for a minute 26 finals 52 teams and only Porto who qualified due to beating us in a final the previous year.
It’s little wonder people make statements like that whether meaning to or not. Before the revamp numerous teams from other countries had won it. Now like us they have no chance realistically.
Personally believe Ange would be far better off concentrating on the job he ran off to do, than the one he left behind with ourselves?
For a great job he done for ourselves over the 2 years, he hardly finished it either imo?
This season was always going to be a big test for Ange as a manager, but rather face up to it, decided to run away from the challenge, and lost a fair bit of respect from myself anyway, upon his decision?
Got a cheek to even comment upon ourselves with CL, when he wasn’t prepared to face the challenge that CL brings to ourselves?
Ange never rated the majority of the 8 homegrown players we have to make up a CL squad, and showed that with the very limited game time he gave to these player’s that’s required for a CL squad?
Also, as much as he likes to play a high risk attacking brand of football, that was enjoyable upon the eye, it still lacked any form of tactical awareness also imo?
Plenty good enough for Scottish football, yet teams were getting to grips with the approach taken, especially towards the end of last season, when we remained as a one trick pony team, and that extra available quality was good enough to get ourselves the victorys, but was becoming considerably far harder to achieve also?
Even in a mini league format that the CL brings, we had that surprise element within the first round of games, but better quality teams were able to deal with ourselves far easier and better in the return games when the lack of surprise wasn’t a factor and they became far better equipped to hurt us easier with such a lack of tactical awareness from ourselves?
Is it any real surprise that the same is currently happening for himself now at spurs with such an approach?
Think not, when you get found out far quicker, when playing more regularly against better quality?
So for himself to be feeding the Scottish media, which he only knows to well, means he can fuck off as far as I’m concerned?
Especially more so when he needs to prove himself far more now, than running away from the challenge he left behind and never proved himself either in the challenges faced within CL football?
I kind of wish that he would take a swing at that
lot, and unleash the full Ange on them, just say it he seen it while he was here.
“You want to go back and do it again and again”, he said, “but obviously not with Celtic”, he should have said.
At the end of the competition there is only one winner so, in effect, the rest are all as big a failure as Celtic.
Agree with Johnno. Even the ball boys in the SPL were beginning to nullify his tactics. He seems to get sussed out after a couple of seasons everywhere he goes.
Ange did well for us, but he was only concerned about doing well for himself. He never cared 1 iota for Celtic, other than what it could gain him. He is the coaching equivalent of Moussa Dembele. Everyone got what they wanted during his reign. Let’s stop defending him now that he’s gone and exposed for the mercenary he is. Keep focus and back-up Brendan who is here. Ange made Rodgers seem loyal, comparing their exits. We will never see him in Scotland again, unless he’s the opposing manager. “I will always have Celtic’s best interests at heart” and 1 day later he left us. I won’t ever forgive him for that.
He might be back in Scotland with Hamilton Accies. He was another one who couldn`t get goals at corners and lost plenty of silly goals. He didn`t give Celtic much respect when he managed Australia when he said Rogic would have to leave them to get into his quad.