Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has opened up a bit on the process that landed him the job in Glasgow, sharing that an hour-long Zoom call convinced him the Bhoys were serious about his appointment.
Back when he was Yokohama F.Marinos boss, Postecoglou would often field calls from Europe about his next career step as he considered a future away from Japan.
However, only one conversation really grabbed his attention.
Speaking to Open Goal, he said: “I’d had four years in Japan, I thought that was probably going to be my last year in Japan.
“I’d spoken to clubs over this side of the world and they always ended up they don’t know who the hell I am and I could tell by the end of the phone call that this isn’t happening – it’s just a courtesy call to say they spoke to me.
“When I spoke with Celtic I remember I said to my wife, because we’ve got two young ones, I said get them out because I’m doing a Zoom call I don’t want them running around throwing things at me or me trying to Bart Simpson style strangle them.
“She took them out and came back an hour later and said ‘How’d it go?’ and I said to her ‘I think I’ve got the job. – it’s bizarre but if it went as well as I think it did’ and it kind of just rolled on from there.”
The rest, as they say, is history. Celtic moved swiftly to appoint Postecoglou after the Eddie Howe talks broke down and the Australian has been a smash hit with supporters.
With one trophy in the bag and two more potentially on the way, he’s made great strides with the club over the last 12 months and we can only thank his family for not interrupting his Zoom call!
Oh to hear what was said that day!
In other news, “I try to steer clear of him in training”; Greg Taylor’s high praise for Celtic teammate.
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