Former Celtic defender Christopher Jullien has given a new interview on his time at the club and the circumstances that led to his exit last summer.
The Frenchman was initially injured when Ange Postecoglou first arrived at the club, with the manager embarking on a transformative quest to turn Celtic back into title winners after a horror season in 2020/21.
Jullien didn’t really come along for the journey even after returning to fitness and in The Scottish Mail on Sunday [19/02 print edition, page 103], has given his thoughts on his final year at the Bhoys, amongst other issues.
Christopher Jullien opens up on his Celtic exit
Explaining that Postecoglou remains one of the best coaches he has worked with, Jullien nonetheless had a difficult relationship with the Australian.
He said: “I came back from France and I could see the coach was trying to implement new ideas. But I couldn’t take part. As he’s said, he doesn’t stop! He started on his way and never looked back. I had some conversations at the beginning about how he sees the game. It was fascinating. I can say he is one of the best trainers I have witnessed. But the man himself, we just didn’t click.
“Sometimes my teammates would say why not go and see him? And I’m like ‘Man, what do you want me to say? The team is winning every game three or four-zero, you’re winning everything’. He was a really good coach but as a man we didn’t have that link. I understand that management is difficult. It’s not just 11 players and keeping everyone involved is hard because players can be impatient, emotional.
“I played just once. It was a cup game against a second division team and I felt I could have had more time but afterwards I said ‘thanks coach’. Before the season finished I went to see him, not to ask to play, but to see how he found me in training and my level. After we finished the meeting he said: ‘If we are champions I will probably give you some minutes’. It didn’t happen. It felt like he’d told me something and done the contrary.”
Jullien goes on to explain that he didn’t even say goodbye to Postecoglou when the opportunity to move to Montpellier came up, with the duo ‘distant’ through those summer months.
He states he wishes he had gotten to say farewell to supporters with an appearance after the Bhoys clinched the title, on trophy day.
Ultimately Postecoglou did what he felt was best for Celtic last season and the defensive partnership of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt was the foundation on which the Bhoys had success.
Postecoglou’s ruthless and relentless streak is one that is so admired by supporters and for good reason. He’s raised standards across the board.
It’s unfortunate for Jullien he couldn’t take part but that’s football. The defender states he has no regrets about his time at Celtic and now getting regular minutes in Ligue 1, he’s in a good place when it comes to his career.
Everyone’s moved on for the better.
In other news, Celtic on course to break goalscoring record that’s stood for over 100 years.
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