Matt O’Riley shares the one big difference between Brendan Rodgers and Ange Postecoglou at Celtic

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Matt O’Riley got to experience working under two incredible Celtic managers.

Ange Postecoglou was written off before a ball was even kicked, but the Aussie-Greek quickly asserted his dominance at Parkhead.

He won five out of six major domestic trophies available to him, and he signed off his final campaign by winning the Treble.

Rodgers has 11 major trophies in his Celtic cabinet across his first and second spells, and he has his eye on more this season.

So what was the biggest difference between the two bosses as managers and people? O’Riley has now revealed what he thinks.

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Postecoglou vs Rodgers as characters at Celtic

O’Riley spoke to The Celtic Way as he continues to shape up for the new Premier League campaign with Brighton & Hove Albion.

He was looking back at his Celtic career, and noted that while Postecoglou and Rodgers’ philosophies were similar, their characters were not.

He said: “I think the football philosophy and style of Ange and Brendan wasn’t too dissimilar. When Brendan replaced Ange, he tried to keep the model we had and just tweaked little bits here and there, which I think worked really well.

“As people, it’s hard to say because you don’t know them as people away from football, but they were very different characters in the dressing room.

“Ange kept himself to himself more and preferred to keep a distance from the players, whereas Brendan was, from a social aspect, happier speaking with players.

“However, Ange was very good at delegating clear messages to the staff. So I feel like, as a player on the pitch, his instructions were very clear, and it was easy to know exactly what I needed to do.

“I think that was reflected in the way we played, but I had really good experiences under both of them, so I’m just lucky to have played for some really good managers already.”

Current transfer interest in O’Riley

Turning attention back to the present, O’Riley is being linked with a move away from Brighton after just a season at the club.

He is Celtic’s most expensive export at £26m, a fee that could rise to £30m if add-ons are met. However, Juventus are interested in signing him.

AS Roma have also been credited with an interest, while Napoli saw a bid rejected by Brighton for O’Riley earlier in the summer.