By the end of last week, a very tight group at the top of the Celtic command structure knew that they had almost certainly lost their manager.
A sit down with Postecoglou’s representative in Edinburgh left the Parkhead club’s command structure in no doubt that they were now in the hunt for a new first-team coach.
This morning I spoke with someone at the centre of this little melodrama, and the word he used was “blindsided”.
He shared with me details of a chance encounter in the imperial capital that compromised the covert moves by the other side of this rather poorly written TV series.
All warfare is based on deception.
In the treason finale, the leading man in the home dugout was asked about his plans.
For the avoidance of doubt, it is always better to ask a question when you already know the answer!
Of course, an agent’s professional duty is to seek out the best possible next move for their client, even if they are ostensibly happy in their current location.
It isn’t personal. It’s just business.
That’s why the club’s first statement on this had to be to the London Stock Exchange.
My information, as of today, is that over the last twelve months, on several occasions, Postecoglou was offered a four-year deal with an option of a fifth.
However, he turned down the offer each time, which had substantially better terms.
The club was told it was because the rolling one-year arrangement suited him.
Now, the four-year deal Spurs has given Celtic’s ex-manager will make Postecoglou’s young children financially secure for all of their adult lives.
Once the people in charge at Celtic realised last week what was likely to unfold, they went into executive search mode.
They’re also bracing for impact on moves for some key players who Postecoglou brought to the Parkhead club.
On a personal note, this novelist was looking forward to something of a break from here, a quiet couple of months to make progress on the sequel to Native Shore.
A summer of turmoil now awaits the richest club in Scotland.
Only time will tell if they can emerge from the Bocage of agents and chancers and land another natural leader.
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Ange played us like a fiddle all the chest thumping leaves a sour taste will find out how good he is in a big league hope he lives to regret moving to spurs
Whatever happens next better come quickly. Ange, Kennedy, Strachan gone from the coaching side. Rumours of Kyogo and Hatate to follow Ange? CCV to follow? It’s probably fair to say the club is in disarray at this moment in time.
Meanwhile, Rangers have gone about their business quietly and the signing of Buckland shows intent for next season.
New manager won’t relish ins and outs, implementing his style and all before the SPL and CL come around again.
Success guarantees interest in managers. Who wouldn’t swop their job to treble their pay packet?
Best of luck Ange, you will need it at Spurs who have won hee haw for years.
I would be much more concerned if he came back to hand pick our best players, players whom he brought to Celtic.
Do we ever back a manager beyond the first season or two? Oneill got nothing after seville, lennon nothing after Barca, (can’t really recall Strachan but sure he was raking up Robson, Caldwell, Hartley after CL was gained) Rodgers wanted Scharr and got Shved. Ange from nowhere sorted out Lennon/lockdown/Howe debacle with minimal investment if you count players sold. Big leather faced Lawell comes back, players sold. Ange puts feelers out to bolt. Celtic serves its moneymen first and foremost.
Time to start thinking like Brighton fc.
They apparently always have a shortlist of three potential mangers .
If the incumbent manager is smashing it and lured away or failing and sacked , no problem, a new up and coming is installed .
We HAVE to realise we’re only a stepping stone for managers ( and most players)looking to up their profile . Caymans,Larssons Steins and Burns are mostly a thing of the past . I’m sad it’s over , but so glad it we happened…
It’s depressing. If Ange thinks Levy will give him time or money, he’s another thing coming. Watching Conte’s last press conference shows the club is in a mess. I wish him luck. The writing was on the wall in my view when Ange’s family weren’t on the pitch with him. I could be wrong. I hope Celtic get the right man in so everything settles down. I wouldn’t have Rodgers 100 miles near Celtic Park. Just imagine Celtic doing the treble next year. I’m getting way ahead of myself.
We were totally outplayed by Postacoglou. He lured us in with his heart slapping actions as if he ‘got it’ and he had all the right words for us to buy into him as a manager and him as a man. Words like “you have no idea how long I’ll be here” sadly had a double meaning and we fell for it hook, line and sinker.
Yes we won an historic 8th treble and we enjoyed Angeball but 2 seasons won’t win him legendary status which I’m sure he’s fine with as he counts his money. HH
Wished he’d just said that he was going himself after wining the treble and before actually leaving and not mentioning Tommy Burns as he was pumping his chest! Leaves bit of a sour taste but can’t be too hacked off, we’re miles better than we were and we’ve got some valuable players as a result. A far stronger foundation than when the rat left, and a great starting point for the next manager. With CL group stage footie coming up we’ll have no shortage of good managers interested.
Phil… I dont see any apologies from the hordes who rained all those poisonous barbs in your direction last week for daring to tell the truth about all this
If our next manager comes in for 2 seasons brings in quality players that are major assets to the club, puts money in the bank through many successes on and off the field, play exciting football and put 5 trophies in the locker, happy days.
I wish Ange and family all the best, hope he does well and if he does coax any of our players away we ensure we make a hefty profit on them and get a replacement management team and players in quickly.
I am only concerned about Celtic FC , Postacoglu played us … he knew he was leaving but wasn’t as straight as he professed to be . There’s a Social side to the business , and Postacoglu just ignored us pretending to be our Friend , all the while he had plane tickets to London , not Australia or Greece . It’s taken the Shine off the Treble , no one likes to be duped … it’s happened twice now the Board needs to get s grip of itself and put in better business practices for the Future .
Not taken the shine off it for me. I love Celtic winning the treble.
Exactly, Damian. 5 out of 6 like “2 out of 3 ain’t bad”.
And as for “duped”? Ange (quite some time ago) said not to become too attached to anyone due to the unpredictability of football in general. Most of us thought (presumed) that just meant buying and selling of players. We now know differently.
I’ll remember Ange with fondness and for his honest approach, as honest as this filthy, deceptive, duplicitous, lucre-loving, capitalist, shit-hole of a planet allows.
But Celtic FC is bigger than ANY man.
It’s roots are of a Socialist (albeit via a mhan of the cloth) basis and will flourish, just like its City’s ‘badge of honour’.
THIS IS OUR CITY, THESE ARE OUR COLOURS.
HH and thanks forever to the Green Brigade.
Course we will in time hail him. Just look at a lot of our support shouting for rogers to be brought home!!! Dear god do we enjoy being used and abused. Please god not rogers.
Surely offering 1 year rolling contracts leaves the door open for our managers to be snatched up.
I understand that it cuts compensation at termination etc etc (which in my view is prudence because 2 quick payoffs would sink us but I’m sure in the market it’s seen as cheap) but I can’t help think that it’s a deliberate lure for talented managers that says we won’t stand in your way if a deal comes up.
That’s why it suited him and I don’t think he’s to blame for taking advantage of it.
Great manager, worked wonders for the club, deserves top table job. If celtic “blindsided” then this reflects worse on them than on Ange. We’re not Real Madrid. Talent will be lured away. We should always have an idea of who we will get to replace them.
We must sst up the stable structure of a good DoF.
100%.
If the club is putting this message out there, that Ange is the bad guy, they’re surely just creating a smokescreen for being unprepared for what should be a routine process for a well run club.
Why were they going into search mode rather than asking the Head of Recruitment who the top scouted targets were, like every equivalent club in Europe would do?
A manager leaving should be a relative banality for a well run football club. Not necessarily for a club that likes to set things up as if the manager is God. You get what you deserve if you do that. And you’ll get it sooner or later, and often enough.
Really pleased for Ange. It’s amazing, actually. Easily the best next step any manger from the Scottish league has ever had. He deserves it and I hope he’s a success.
All’s fair in these things. We poached him from a club in the middle of a league campaign. Are Japanese people/football fans less important than us, or less deserving of respect? We did the same with Kyogo a couple of weeks later. It was great to see the gratitude of the fans he was leaving on his departure.
Leaving once you’ve just won the treble is the best possible time to go. Far better than any other Celtic managerial departure in my lifetime.
As I said yesterday, same again please. Except, structure the club like grown ups, so you know what to do when it happens.
Because it will happen.
Ferguson to Man U was the best next step by some way !!!
Spurs are a basket case right now and with Kane gone the badge pumped might be fighting to avoid bottom 4 rather than getting into top 4.
No one blames him for moving and the 12 month contract clearly suited him, Celtics fault for not tying him down when his talents were clear.
Beale’s been thrown a curve ball now though, he’s not idea who or what he will face next season, try planning for that !!
Man Utd was basket case-ish (or at least wallowing in long term nothingness) when Ferguson went down the road. But, fair enough. Not going to debate that.
Spurs had a bad season last season. They’d finished in a European spot for the fifteen seasons prior to that, nearly half of them in the CL places, with a couple of second placed league finishes and a CL final place etc etc.
They had a bad season but the club is structurally sound. What they need is a manager with a track record for handling such a context.
Having lost a good manager so quickly makes the Board
look incompetent (again) – and ‘blindsided’.
IF there was any spin to be made, then yes, claiming Ange rejected several, substantially better, multi-year deals would do the trick.
But, recent experience has repeatedly shown the Board to be cheap – and only reactive.
I’d be much more inclined to believe that Ange ASKED for a better, multi-year deal, several times – and Nicholson stalled?
I honestly don’t think the board can be blamed in any way. I’m willing to bet he was offered the best deal any Celtic manager has received and this was inevitable as he and his agents probably had a timeline of two years and if all went well he’d be off. The big worry now for me is the attitude of certain players and I for one would get rid of anyone who fails to show commitment and I mean anyone. This has the potential to blow up in our faces. A new manager has to be brought in who will be a bit more pragmatic and be prepared to be harder to beat in CL games and some of our squad are not suited to this type of approach, hence my worry. I stated this weeks ago ,I believe our invincible team would wipe the floor with our present team and I honestly don’t believe there would have been much improvement in our CL performances next season. Get a manager in quickly so he can assess the squad and give him the funds to replace any players who don’t want to be there as long as we can get decent money for the outgoing players i am quite hopeful we will remain the dominant force in this country.
Reading the runes on Ange’s departure, and who knew about its imminence, I was surprised by Daizen Maida’s sending off against Hibs late last month, after he came on for an injured Sead Haksabanovic. Maida seemed both angry at being brought on and at the agricultural attention of the Hibs’ defence. It was, I’d suggest, very untypical behaviour from a consummate professional. Did it, however, give an inkling that some in the squad already knew about Ange’s planned departure, and that this was apparent before we clinched the title and faced Sevco in a dead rubber at Ibrokes? (This might also explain why we failed to turn up after clinching the title!)
My chief concern now, apart from wishing Ange all the best at Spurs, is that Celtic move quickly to fill the post, and ensure that the stars Ange signed up are not lured away by their Aussie mentor. Suggestions that Celtic should look to the Far East for a replacement seem sensible, given the potential wooing of our Far Eastern treble-winning stars by a new Spurs boss faced with a closed season rebuild and a cash-pile to burn through.
Time is, as they say, of the essence.
Given Celtic’s stars performance in the Champions league, I think Spurs will be shopping in a different shopping centre.
My take is that taking everything into consideration for what’s happened in the last 4or 5 days or so , Celtic FC owed Ange a debt of gratitude for his incredible heroics in such a short time frame . When all the dust settles and we look back in time at the tenure and success of big Ange , we will realise he really had it all figured out from minute one ….What a gift !
And the thing is, if you just switch your mindset to realise that you’re better having a talented manager than a bang average manager, and that an inevitable consequence of the former is that he’ll leave after a while, then the dust settles really quickly.
As soon as it became clear the story had legs last week (and I was happy to go with the rumours that he was in London and so Kennedy took the press conference a week or two earlier), it was obvious to me that if an offer was made he’d go. Because, anyone would; you’d have to judge the sanity and the character of anyone that wouldn’t. And so that’s when the dust settled for me.
So, I moved on. Win the treble and go. Best way to go for a Celtic manager. All other exits are (and have been) some kind of worse.
It’s over to the club. If they’re any good, they’ll have well researched targets at hand and on the phone. If they’re not, then we’ll get what we deserve.