Celtic defender Osaze Urhoghide has disclosed the message Ange Postecoglou continued to give his squad to help guide them through the rough patches in the early stages of his reign.
Ange has taken Parkhead by storm after guiding Celtic to the top of the Premiership and having already won the Premier Sports Cup. Hoops fans are already whispering quietly about a potential treble, with plenty impressed with the work Postecoglou has done in such a short space of time.
Granted, there were some major bumps early on in the road. As he quickly tried to gel a new squad together, Celtic were left with an early exit in the UCL qualifiers whilst had our worst start to the league campaign in 23 years back in September. As you can expect, that came with it a host of over-the-top criticism [Daily Record].
Urhoghide was a part of the squad before being shipped out to KV Oostende on loan last month. And as he touched on the early stages of the campaign, he’s revealed the message Ange consistently delivered to the players to keep them focused.
As quoted by Football Scotland, Urhoghide said: “There wasn’t really any set targets when we had the meeting. He just talked about winning and we know the history of Celtic. The fans demand to win stuff. Obviously, I knew how it was last season, even talking to other players. The fans were angry, it was disappointing and there was a low even on the training ground.
“They were saying it just felt so bad. But when we went in for pre-season, Ange was talking about, ‘We know the history of the club, just trust the process.’ Even when we had a slow start in the league, people were asking if Celtic were good enough. But Ange stayed true to his process and he was like, ‘Just trust the process, guys. Everyone will see later on what we’re working on. I can see right now that playing-wise, everyone knows what we’re doing. Everyone is together.’
“As a result of playing, we won the cup already and are top of the league. It’s just about keeping that endurance until the end of the season. There’s still a lot of games left, but hopefully we do it.”
Celtic have come a long way regardless of title result
We all know what the ultimate goal is this season. Winning the Scottish Premiership title is all that matters. So much so that it’ll be difficult to accept if we don’t manage it this term. That’s despite the fact there’s been clear progress made regardless of whether we achieve it or not.
Remember, this was a position we didn’t even think was possible as recently as several months ago. The thought of rebuilding this squad from scratch and forming them into a title-contending one was inconceivable in fact.
You have to say just by being in a close title race, Ange has already done what many thought was impossible. He probably hasn’t gotten anywhere near the praise he deserves for that either. If he goes on to win the championship, it’ll be one of the most memorable achievements in recent memory.
Ange and his players were left trusting the process in the early days when not many of us were willing to join in. Whether it be pundits or supporters, there was a lot of doubt over his capabilities and even his qualifications. To say he’s rammed it down many throats would again be an understatement.
If we come up just short this season it’ll be difficult to take. But in he bigger picture, Celtic are building something special that needs to be allowed to stand the test of time. Yes, there will always be question marks over Ange until his Celtic team manages to win the title. However, in the meantime, there needs to be an understanding of the job he’s done up to now.
The progress is remarkable, and it’s clear we’re onto something amazing under Ange and this Celtic team. So long as we all “trust the process”, good times are coming back to Celtic Park.
In other news, Bodo/Glimt have sold out Aspmyra Stadium ahead of Celtic crunch match
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