Multiple things can be true at the same time: One, yesterday’s draw with Dundee United wasn’t good enough for Celtic. Two, Celtic need to compete better away from home, starting on Sunday. Three, The pressure mounting on Ange Postecoglou already is ridiculous.
Quite why there’s a narrative building that Postecoglou is already looking over his shoulder regarding his Celtic job is an absolute mystery to me. Some of it is being led by nervous supporters, but the hysteria coming from the press is certainly feeding part of it too.
I get outlets want to capitalise on the drama, especially in the slow weeks after the transfer window shutting, but it’s clear the manager himself is getting sick of it at this point.
Yesterday he summed it up by saying some people in the press were “wanting to push me on some kind of edge of the ledge somewhere.” [Fox Sports]
There seems to be a goading at the moment that looks for him to concede a league title before we’re even out of September. As the manager said on Sunday, it’s just weird.
Today, The Daily Record have run “proof” that Postecoglou is performing worse than Neil Lennon was last year, completely ignoring any context that might be important before drawing that conclusion and plastering a hysterical headline on it. The same outlet’s much-derided ‘hotline’ page leads with a headline calling for Ange to go and Lennon to come back.
The task facing Celtic at the start of the summer when Postecoglou took charge was a direct result of the shambles Lennon oversaw in the 12 months previous, as well as a culpable board that sat on its hands. Did anyone think this was going to be easy rebuilding from where we were? Did anyone really think it’d be a case of signing 12 players and immediately being good to go? The mess Postecoglou inherited was a disgrace.
The manager is not the problem at Celtic. He’s not even in the top three problems at the club right now.
In the short-term, injuries are our biggest issue. Callum McGregor, Kyogo Furuhashi, James Forrest, Christopher Jullien, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Greg Taylor, Karamoko Dembele, Mikey Johnston. That’s almost a full team, half of whom you would consider key. The lack of squad depth cannot be laid at the door of a manager who didn’t even have a first-team to work with when he joined.
Then you consider the inaction of the Celtic board and the change required in the football department. As an example, the club lost its head of sports science at the end of last season. Ange flagged it as a problem in July, publicly. It took until last week for it to be addressed. Does this sound like a board completely bought into a revolutionary rebuild? Or a group of people sticking plasters on a wound they’ve let fester for years?
Maybe we can get a few back pages about them for a change.
You can pretend ‘AngeBall’ is the issue, another term now being used against the manager without it being something he’s ever said, you can flirt with the idea that getting rid of him would solve anything, but there is only one reality worth getting on board with.
Postecoglou is here, he’s working with a raw hand, he has a clear vision of where he wants to take Celtic and we have to go along with the ride. Criticism is valid. Hysterical early judgements about his tenure are not. We’ll know when it’s time to push the button on those verdicts and that time is not now.
Everyone wants to see improvement, but losing the head now is not an option.
In other news, Dundee Utd player discloses what Clancy told teammate about Celtic penalty decision.
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