Celtic's Ange Postecoglou on what keeps him 'awake at night' even as he denies being a 'one-man band'

What was exercising the minds of Celtic supporters precisely two years ago can make that time seem as if it belongs to another age altogether.

Then there was a section of the fanbase ready to raze their club to the ground if they did not appoint a director of football. Now, with Ange Postecoglou having incorporated such duties into the suite he has proved capable of fulfilling in outstanding fashion as an uber-manager of the more traditional variety, such job creation is never raised. It is a 22-month period that seems certain to bag the Australian five out of the six domestic trophies – Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final success over Rangers leaving Celtic odds-on to snare a treble this season. It is a haul made possible because in effectively being his own sporting director, to give it another description, he has been responsible for a recruitment drive wherein he has enjoyed something of a Midas touch in the transfer market.

Remarkably, indeed, it has allowed him to transform the squad with the acquisitions of such as Cameron Carter-Vickers, Jota – both made permanent signings for a combined outlay of £12.5million last summer following loan seasons – Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate, Carl Starfelt, Alistair Johnston, Matt O’Riley, Joe Hart and a host of other for only around a net spend of £20m. That figure covering all the incomings and outgoings since Jeremie Frimpong’s £11m move to Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the January 2021 window – which, along with the £3.5m earned from Patryk Klimala’s move to the MLS the following month, helped essentially provide him an inheritance when he was handed the reins in the summer of 2021. He was then bolstered by the £30m raised from the sales of Odsonne Edouard, Kristofer Ajer and Ryan Christie in his first window. The cost of taking on different facets now typically stranded out among a number of individuals at top tier clubs hasn’t been monetary so much as felt by Postecoglou in another respect.

"With [doing] that comes great responsibility. It keeps me up at night …” he said. “I don't want to get things wrong because when you take that responsibility on to yourself you need to make sure you are always doing the right thing by the football club. That is what I have tried to do. We have made enormous progress in the last 20-odd months, it is incredible to see where we have come from and where we are now. We haven't done the job yet but we have an opportunity in the next month to do something special. I think when people reflect on what has happened in the last two years they will truly understand what a fantastic and enormous effort it has been from everyone.

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has taken on a raft of duties not normally now the preserve of one individual at top level clubs but he hands the success that has ensued from being the principal decision-maker to those working alongside him behind the scenes. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

"Look, you can use labels [about director of football, or whatever]. Please don't be mistaken: I am no one-man show. I have fantastic people around me who provide the information that allows me to make the best decisions. That's what I do, I make decisions and I don't do that in isolation. I have fantastic people in every department: coaching, sports science, medical, scouting, analysis, media. I've got fantastic people around me and my function is to make the decisions. I will take the responsibility but I'm not doing this on my own, this is far from a one-man show."