A new era is well underway at Celtic Park and it’s fair to say the Ange Postecoglou tenure has had its ups and downs.
League Cup secured but 6 points behind in the league. 3 wins in our Europa League group but failed to get out of it. The squad has been rebuilt but glaring deficiencies remain.
So with all that taken into consideration, what would success truly look like in 2022? Many will simply be screaming that the league title is the only thing that will make next year acceptable. But whilst that would be the ultimate success story, if you look at the bigger picture, there are other potential achievements that would make next year a passable one.
And here, we take a look at 3 different goals that would help make 2022 successful:
1. UEFA Champions League qualification
The first being qualification for the UEFA Champions League come the beginning of next season.
Whether that’s via winning the league title or coming second and charging through some qualifiers, it’s one of the biggest signs of progress possible.
Celtic were disappointingly knocked out of the UCL this season by Midtjylland. However, come next summer, we would expect that the squad will be far more developed than it was back in July. Ange should have strong cover for all positions with a big January and summer window coming up in 2022.
Europa League qualification was positive and a good step forward for the manager, as was our performance in the group stage overall. However, Celtic should be in a position come next season to seriously tackle the UCL qualifiers at the very least.
Pushing the club back up to Europe’s top table is the biggest sign of progress Ange could possibly make. Hopefully, that’s exacltly what we achieve in 2022.
2. A cup double
Postecoglou secured the League Cup last Sunday with an enthralling 2-1 win over Hibernian at Hampden. It was a key step for the players and the manager to be able to taste tangible success.
The big hope is that it will ultimately spur the club on to secure the Premiership title and qualify for the UCL group stages directly. However, it’s important to be as realistic as possible. Whilst the title is still our main goal, making a strong fight of it and giving fans clear signs of progress would be acceptable.
So long of course as Postecoglou added to his trophy haul with the Scottish Cup in 2022. Whilst the League Cup is always a pleasing achievement, it doesn’t compare to Scottish football’s biggest cup competition.
Celtic have a rich history in the Scottish Cup, and winning it back off St Johnstone to make it 2 trophies at least this season would be a fine debut campaign for Postecoglou.
Not many fancied Celtic to even put up a challenge for the league championship this season. So if he was to run Rangers close whilst bagging both cup competitions? That’s progress, regardless of whatever way you look at it.
Granted, here’s hoping if the Scottish Cup is won then it’s part of a treble come the end of the season.
3. Restore Celtic’s derby-day dominance
It needs to be said – these derby fixtures are just getting ridiculous now.
Celtic went from bossing Rangers between 2016 and 2018 to faltering all over the place in 2020 and 2021 when it comes to the Glasgow derbies.
Our performances in this fixture started to wane as soon as Brendan Rodgers departed for Leicester City. Whilst Neil Lennon was able to land a few blows on them, ultimately he failed to bring derby dominance back to Celtic Park.
Stretching back to 29th December 2019, Celtic have lost 6 of the last 7 games against Rangers. The only time we avoided defeat was in a meaningless draw at Parkhead back in March.
Celtic have only scored 3 goals in those 7 matches too. Granted, Postecoglou will feel that his first experience of the derby – a 1-0 loss at Ibrox – was an unfair reflection of the game as a whole.
Celtic face Rangers 3 more times in the league throughout the 2021/22 campaign. 3 wins are essential not just for our title hopes but to re-establish ourselves as the dominant force in this fixture.
We’ve been getting bossed in it for too long, and Ange has to ensure that comes to an end starting with the February 2nd fixture at Celtic Park. If he manages to win his derbies in 2022, he’ll go a long way to winning over the Celtic support.
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