It isn’t going to be a “Jobs for the Bhoys” culture at Celtic under Ange Postecoglou.
Not where he’s concerned, anyway. The former Yokohama F Marinos and Australia manager hinted at more staffing arrivals yesterday. When he did so, he said something very interesting indeed.
Postecoglou, in his own words, was keen to bring in new faces. Those faces, though, won’t just be people he’s worked with in the past. Going down a path of hiring people he knows, said the manager, is limiting yourself.
That’s exactly what Celtic have done, to mixed results. At the time of writing, there are three members of the Strachan family working at the club in various roles. Perhaps most noticeably, Gavin Strachan, who works alongside John Kennedy, a former scout, youth coach and interim manager.
Stephen McManus and Darren O’Dea are also in the set up, with O’Dea in Academy coaching. Now, there’s nothing to suggest neither are unqualified, far from it. In fact, both are acclaimed coaches who should have a good future with the Bhoys.
However, Celtic have perhaps limited themselves with a culture of going to the past to future-proof the club’s approaches.
That probably reached its peak when Neil Lennon was brought back to the club permanently, having taken over on an interim basis after Brendan Rodgers left.
Some new thinking at Celtic is much needed; nobody exemplifies that like Ange Postecoglou
How great it would be to see some new blood in the Celtic coaching ranks. Again, none of this is to say that the club shouldn’t look to nurture talents from old squads, if they have the intelligence and wherewithal to be good coaches.
But in terms of ideas, experience and bringing something new to Celtic in general, it really is important to get some new folk in. The impact of Chris Davies in the Bhoys’ dugout under Brendan Rodgers, for example, often goes under the radar. He’s gone on to say that he loved his time with the club, and is now a lifelong fan [Sun].
John Robertson was another “non-Celtic man” who thrived alongside Martin O’Neill. Something of a left-field appointment in his own right, Ange Postecoglou is right to have no interest in a person’s background when he’s thinking of hiring staff.
It’s a long-held culture that, rather than being endearing to the Celtic support, has caused frustration. Kennedy and Strachan were blamed, rightly or wrongly, for much of Celtic’s woes last season. Despite Lennon’s strong start at the club, it was probably the wrong move long-term to hire him immediately after a Scottish Cup final. And so on, and so on.
To be better, it takes staff with a range of backgrounds and thoughts on how to play the game. Picking from a narrow pool of ex-Celtic players is limiting, no matter how you slice it.
Read more: Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou plots course for beating Motherwell
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