Davie Provan has delivered a wholly unfair attack on Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou in his weekly Scottish Sun column.
Provan has hit out at a host of aspects of Ange’s reign so far. From random slip-ups to player treatment, he’s incredibly come out and said that the Greek-Australian has had an “easy ride” from supporters so far [Scottish Sun].
Despite winning 5 of our 6 matches in all competitions since the last international break, the former Hoops striker has laughably stated that winning in Ferencvaros is nothing to brag about. He also claimed Neil Lennon would be getting “torched” if he was getting the same treatment.
In an absolutely ludicrous article from the so-called Celtic-minded pundit, Provan said via the Sun: “Fair play to the guy for taking on what resembled mission impossible. But that shouldn’t make him immune from criticism when getting it badly wrong. The goodwill coming his way from punters won’t last forever. Up until now he’s been getting an easy ride. Put it this way, had Neil Lennon left Kyogo Furuhashi out against Livingston last week, he’d have been torched.
“Unless Postecoglou stops havering, he’ll have the Celtic support on his case for the first time. Punters are starting to question his judgment, and with good reason. If Postecoglou had a good reason for leaving Furuhashi out against Livingston, I’d love to hear it. Burnout? Do me a favour. We’re not talking 36-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo here. Kyogo is ten years younger, he’s at his physical peak.
“Sorry, but I saw no reason to celebrate beating a Ferencvaros side that had lost its last seven games in European competition. The Hungarians are the section’s whipping boys for a reason, they are average at best. The Livingston game was the one Celts had to win. On the evidence of last weekend’s game, Postecoglou learned nothing in the Tony Macaroni Arena.”
Davie Provan trying too hard to look for Celtic negatives
The truth is that Provan is trying his hardest to look for negatives where there isn’t many.
Sure, you can say there’s merit in criticising some of Ange’s decisions. Why Giorgos Giakoumakis took the penalty against Livingston for example appeared unnecessarily risky. So too was not featuring Kyogo in his normal lone-striker role. The same goes for how he managed the game at Ibrox by choosing Odsonne Edouard over Kyogo.
But how can you honestly say the Celtic supporters have been giving the manager an easy ride? He’s been getting anything but. On the contrary, every decision Postecoglou makes has been scrutinised hugely.
Not just by the supporters either, but by media and punditry figures too. The reaction to last week’s 0-0 home draw against Livingston was massively over the top. Postecoglou has been up against it ever since he arrived in Scotland, especially considering he’s been unfairly labelled as someone who doesn’t understand Scottish football.
Yet he’s come in and managed to produce what many believed to be our biggest rebuild in over a decade whilst keeping us fighting at the top of the Premiership.
If Postecoglou gets some slack at times, it’s because he deserves it. Why Provan is itching to have a swipe at Ange is anyone’s guess. But it comes across tasteless and desperate. You expect better from Davie here.
In other news, Celtic defender Anthony Ralston pre-match incident in Hungary explained
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