Gannon’s article on the Celtic boss and Ange was beyond stupid.

I have read some really poor articles since Ange was fired the other day by Spurs. But the worst of them was written by Michael Gannon, and it was published on Friday. It was almost unbelievable in its stupidity. Gannon seems to think Ange will be looming like a giant shadow over Celtic Park for the next 12 months.

I don’t know who should be more insulted by that article.

I don’t know if Brendan Rodgers should be more insulted at the implication that if he doesn’t immediately sign a contract, Celtic will be increasingly looking to Ange to come in and replace him—or the idea that Ange is going to spend the next year sitting around waiting for the call to come and do that.

If Ange is still out of work in 12 months, I’ll be frankly astonished.

He is easily good enough. His CV is easily impressive enough to get another Premier League job as soon as he wants one. He could manage anywhere in Europe now. He has a European trophy to his name. He’s proved himself—whatever the press south of the border might want to write. When you look at the raging mediocrities they’ve promoted over the years, his record is better than any of them.

I do agree that Rodgers’ future needs to be sorted out quickly. If Celtic are to have the continuity and security required going into this campaign, then he has to make some kind of defining statement about his intentions.

And honestly, I think no statement is statement enough—and we can presume he’ll leave at the end of the campaign.

If I have one very big complaint about Ange, it’s that he didn’t give us the security of a brand-new contract before Spurs came calling. I understand, in some ways, why he didn’t—maybe Spurs wouldn’t have wanted to pay us an eight-figure sum for his services—but the truth is, everyone at Celtic felt really put out by that.

The failure to sign that contract should have alerted Celtic to what his intentions were. We won’t make that mistake again.

If Rodgers’ time here is coming to an end, the search for his successor will need to start almost immediately. We should have a shortlist drawn up, names, CVs, and we should be gauging interest from around January.

We should be putting a plan in place.

There is no way that Ange is going to be available at that point. There is no way he will be a millstone around Rodgers’ neck. Whatever our intentions are, we won’t declare them publicly—and I think Ange would be offended at the very idea of undermining a guy who’s in the job.

Ange had his time at Celtic.

It was a stepping stone. That’s how he saw it. And let’s be honest—that is exactly all it was. We can look at it now, in hindsight, and recognise that fact. He saw Celtic as his ticket to European exposure. It was the job he’d been waiting for to get his name out there to European clubs. The fact that he now has a European trophy cements his reputation and means that it’s mission accomplished.

So it’s not even clear to me that he would come back to Celtic even if he were asked. And that’s why Celtic won’t ask.

Rodgers had unfinished business at the club. That’s how he put it. If Rodgers cashes out with another league title—perhaps even another treble—he’ll regard that as the debt paid. He’ll regard that as settling the ledger. And so will most of us. And if he goes, he’ll do so with our deepest respect and thanks.

But Ange has no unfinished business here.

He wasn’t someone who said he had Celtic in his heart and then walked out on us halfway through a campaign. Ange was brought in to do a job, and he did it exceptionally well—a double and a treble and some of the best football we’ve watched as Celtic fans. What does he have left to do? What does he have left to prove at Celtic Park?

Nothing. That’s why it would be a backward step for him. That’s why it would be a backward step for us.

So no, Ange Postecoglou will not be hovering over Celtic Park like Banquo’s ghost, waiting for the crown to fall back into his lap. That’s a fantasy conjured up by a journalist who either doesn’t understand the man or doesn’t understand Celtic—or, more likely, doesn’t care to. It’s ignorant and it’s lazy.

Ange is not looking backwards. He never has.

He won’t be sitting at home twiddling his thumbs for a year hoping Rodgers trips up. He’s already proven himself, already ticked the boxes, already moved on. And Celtic are moving forward too. Whether Rodgers signs that deal or not, this club is not going to indulge in yet another daft nostalgia project.

At some point there has to be forward progress in a clear direction. Re-appointing the same managers over and over again does not make progress.

Gannon’s article was insulting—not just to Rodgers or to Ange, but to the intelligence of anyone reading it. It read like it was slapped together as he hurtled towards a deadline without any real thought, understanding or perspective.

Rodgers’ future will be resolved one way or another. Ange’s already has been. Let’s stop pretending there’s anything more to it than that.