Socceroos great Alan Davidson has outlined how Ange Postecoglou will rebuild Celtic as he tipped his former team-mate to throw out the big names.
Postecoglou is said to be closing in on being announced as the new Hoops boss. The Scottish Sun reported last night that Celtic fans should expect the official announcement to come before Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Celtic have a massive rebuild coming over the next few months. Odsonne Edouard looks set to depart along with centre-back Kristoffer Ajer. The Bhoys look to be facing major shortages all over the pitch this summer. But it remains to be seen how the new manager will tackle the mighty challenge ahead of him before the new season even begins.
Davidson, who played with Australia for 11 years, believes Postecoglou’s first move will be to clear the decks.
“He’ll clean up the place”
As quoted by the Daily Record, Davidson said: “Celtic need someone to come in, clean up the mess and revamp the club. Ange is the perfect man to do that. Fools won’t be suffered or idiots ignored.
“Ange will ship out the big names and rebuild by going with younger players – he’ll clean up the place. We played for Australia together when he was coming through the ranks. He was a quiet boy but a good player. He just took to coaching and when he became national coach he picked my son Jason.
“After the previous coach was sacked, Ange went for a more youthful team with older players, such as Tim Cahill, being used more as mentors. He doesn’t waver from his beliefs and is a formidable force after winning the J League in Japan, which is no easy task. As a coach he’s a quiet achiever and doesn’t say much. He doesn’t get embroiled in politics but, behind the scenes, he has ferocious determination. Celtic will soon discover that.”
Former Socceroos boss Ange Postecoglou likely won’t go begging big names to stay
It sounds as though Postecoglou won’t go about pleading with the wantaway stars to remain at the club. The likes of Odsonne Edouard, Kris Ajer, and Ryan Christie can likely go anytime. Going by Davidson’s assessment, there’s no real desire from Postecoglou to keep players who aren’t committed to the football club.
It will be interesting, therefore, to see what kind of exodus we have. Nevermind signing new players, what about those who could leave that we don’t yet know about? You have to imagine there are more than a couple of players eyeing up the exit door. Perhaps all of them will indeed be shown the door.
And Davidson believes Postecoglou will put an emphasis on the younger talent when looking for players. It’ll be intriguing therefore to see whether he keeps his focus on the domestic market the way Nick Hammond often did when it came to younger players. Or, perhaps more excitingly, the new man will have beneficial contacts from both Australia and Japan respectively.
This could also be an exciting assessment for the youngsters already at Parkhead too. Mikey Johnston in particular has been banging on the door for opportunities for a long time. You then have the likes of Luca Connell, Lee O’Connor, and Scott Robertson who have all impressed out on loan.
If Postecoglou is going to put his faith in the younger players, this really does look like a long-term project. Perhaps we’ll even have to ease our early expectations somewhat to get the most out of the new regime.
Time will tell, however, whether the likely next Celtic manager lives up to his reputation.
In other news, Liverpool could reportedly be set to sell a player Celtic were after just months ago.
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