When Neil Lennon left his position as Celtic manager in 2021, it was with the club in a bit of a slide.
Rangers had won the Scottish Premiership at a canter and Steven Gerrard was enjoying the rule of the roost in the division.
It was an awkward time to be a Hoops fan considering their Ibrox rivals had lifted the league title with a 25-point difference in what was a miserable campaign.
The Light Blues might have been forgiven for thinking their reign at the summit might have staying power.
But they did not account for the arrival of Ange Postecoglou.
The Australian was appointed the new manager at Parkhead in June of that year and he turned the fortunes of his new club around rapidly as he brought in his own players who took to the league like ducks to water.
Fast-forward to the end of term and Gerrard had left Ibrox and Celtic were once again champions.
For former Gers defender Connor Goldson, he could see the writing was on the wall when Gerrard left Glasgow for Aston Villa.
Rangers got complacent after Ange Postecoglou was appointed Celtic manager
But it seemed less about the Liverpool hero exiting and more about what Postecoglou had done in the east end.
And Goldson, speaking to the Daily Record, explained how nobody at Ibrox had any idea Big Ange would do what he did with their fierce foes and establish Celts as the elite club at the top of Scottish football once again.
“I always remember doing an interview after we lost to Hibs in the League Cup semi-final when Steven left,” Goldson said when asked about standards dropping at Rangers.
“I got absolutely hammered for it at the time. But that was me saying that we had come back and weren’t as hungry as we were the year before when we knew everything was on the line.
“I could feel it in the pre-season. The running we’d done the year before … suddenly people didn’t want to do that anymore.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  CelticCeltic | 11 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 3 | 28 | 31 |
| 2 |  AberdeenAberdeen | 11 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 10 | 14 | 31 |
| 3 |  RangersRangers | 11 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 22 |
| 4 |  Dundee UtdDundee Utd | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 18 | 13 | 5 | 19 |
| 5 |  MotherwellMotherwell | 11 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 14 | 1 | 19 |
| 6 |  ST MirrenST Mirren | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 17 | 22 | -5 | 15 |
“I felt after that semi-final was the right time to say it and maybe it didn’t come across well. But when I was at the club, I felt I was the person who had to say things like that.
“I took the stick for it but do I regret it? No, I don’t. We didn’t look as hungry or as fit as we’d been the year we won the league.
“Celtic lost a lot of key players that summer and – it was fortunate for them – but no-one thought that Ange would do what he did there. The whole football club took its eye off the ball when Celtic lost a lot of players and their manager.
Ange Postecoglou Celtic record vs Rangers as manager
| Ange Postecoglou vs Rangers |
| Played: 11 |
| Won: 6 |
| Lost: 3 |
| Drawn: 2 |
“Unfortunately for us, they quickly turned it around. I was frustrated at that time because I could see what was going on. I could see what was happening.
“Even during the season, when we’d dropped points and the title race was still close – I felt I had to say something to get a reaction.
“It didn’t go down well but if you look at how things have panned out, I think that I was right. When Steven left, standards got lower.”
We told you earlier how Goldson had namechecked Callum McGregor and Scott Brown as he defended old teammate James Tavernier.
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