Ange Postecoglou breaks up with emotion after Celtic title win as he reflects on 'lifelong dream' and Australian first

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou was left breaking up with emotion as he reflected on making good on a “lifelong dream” with the club’s title triumph.

And as he struggled to comprehend the turnaround he confessed seemed remote after 11 points dropped in the first seven league games, he admitted he had been left utterly spent by his breathless, and ultimately blinding, first campaign in Scotland.

“No I can’t,” the Australian said when asked to put the success earned with a 1-1 draw away to Dundee United into words. “It’s hard for me to comprehend. I’ve had this lifelong dream to manage a world famous club, trying to make an impact. I’m in this spot now of achieving something I’ve always wanted to achieve. I guess it’s a weird kind of feeling for me.

“I’ve done about ten terrible interviews and this won’t impress anyone either. It’s fair to say it’s taken every ounce of me. I’ve put everything into it because I knew how big a challenge it was. Now we’ve done it and the overriding emotion is one of relief and satisfaction and you feel drained because we’ve had to be really focused this year and not get distracted. To play in this city it’s very easy to get distracted by other teams and issues. There’s a potential to take you away from what’s important and we’ve been concentrating so hard.

“I knew this year would be a pretty important year. As much as steadying the ship we had to put down a marker for the fans and make an impact. The fact we’ve ended up champions is pretty amazing. It feels like two seasons in one. We’ve jammed in a rebuild season and season of success. I came with the best intentions, I’m a pretty ambitious guy but I knew it would be a tough ask because I knew our starting point and the opposition. After round seven you look where we were, and now to be 31 games undefeated has been unbelievable.”

How the Celtic players rated on famous night

As well as banking a 10th title in 11 years for a club that seemed as if they were destined for a protracted period separated from the league crown following Rangers 25-point winning margin in an unbeaten league campaign of last season, there was personal honour for Postecoglou in becoming a Scottish top flight winner. The 56-year-old now becomes the first Australian coach to win a major title in Europe, and the significance of that was not lost on him, even as he presented it as feat he owes to a whole support structure across his time on this earth, from his parents’ bringing him from his birthplace in Greece to his adopted land as a five-year-old.

“All those things are important,” he said. “That’s the kind of weight and responsibility you carry. But ultimately you carry it as manager of this football club as well as representing the country I was born in and the country I grew up in, plus the people who have been along the journey, my beautiful wife and three boys, my friends, people who have been beside me. I think about how they are feeling right now. It’s really special. They are all part of me. They go through the ups and downs and the stresses. Hopefully they feel good tonight. The sacrifices my family make are for these moments. They are the intangibles that make this job special.”

Celtic title win ensures another Tannadice party as Postecoglou has last laugh