Elephant-like mind of Celtic's Ange Postecoglou, refusal to rule out all-time record and revelation he 'doesn't really speak' to players

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou avoids being clouded by emotion by detaching himself from his players, the club's midfielder Matt O'Riley has revealed. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

The occasion of his 100th game at the Celtic helm wouldn’t have been complete without Ange Postecoglou having a wee sidewinder.

The Australian must possess elephant DNA, such is his remarkable recall for slights. And across his 21 months in Scotland he must have had, oh, about 100 nips at those who initially doubted his aptitude and ability to make a success of a highest-profile position. Even as this appointment followed on from a quarter-of-a-century coaching career spent totting up titles. These naysayers considered they had all the ammunition needed to don black caps for the Postecoglou Celtic era when five losses were posted across his opening 12 games, across which he crammed two years worth of squad reconstruction into two months.

The effect was to create a new team practically from scratch that subsequently has formed the core of a set-up now the imperious force in the Scottish game. A championship-winning side that could take notable steps towards a treble – and give him a haul of five honours out of possible six in two seasons – across a Hearts double-header this week, a sequence that will see Robbie Neilson’s men entertained in Wednesday’s Premiership encounter before the Tynecastle club are the hosts for Saturday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final. Not that the live-in-the-present 57-year-old will look beyond the task in hand, which brings up a personal milestone afforded to ever-fewer managers. “And I was really long odds to do it myself, wasn’t I?” he said on that front. “Not all of you said that, but … it’s nice. Sometimes the success of a manager is clearly aligned with longevity. You don’t last too long in this career, or at a club, unless you are actually producing something so, yeah, it’s nice to reach the 100-game mark.”

The league contest will be treated on its merits. Between the two games with the Gorgie men, though, Postecoglou intends to make changes to his starting personnel. But those will be down to scheduling not prioritising. It is a “quirk”, Postecoglou calls it, of this domain that the same opposition can crop up within a matter of days across different competitions. He acknowledges it can make surprising any opponent hardly straightforward, “to an extent”. Yet the quest for constant perfection, and practically internalising the demands he places upon his players, can offset any awkwardness.

“We were in this scenario with Kilmarnock, of playing them in the league then the semi-final of the [Viaplay] cup,” the Celtic manager said. “We have tried to show that each game is its own unique challenge and each game is an opportunity to perform at levels exceeding what we’ve done before, and that’s irrespective of the opponent. I think you embrace these things. Scottish football throws these up sometimes, and we already potentially play each other four times in the league. But from our perspective it doesn’t diminish our ambition or desire to be as relentless as we can be in pursuit of being the best team we can be.”

Celtic have lost only twice in their past 71 domestic outings. They are on an 11-game winning run – the longest of Postecoglou’s tenure – and have won 25, drawn one and lost only one of their 27 top flight matches this season to establish a nine-point advantage. Goals have rained in – 250 netted in his 99 games – and yet Postecoglou won’t settle for back-slapping over the fact his team are averaging more than three per Premiership encounter in this campaign. Could that really be sustained across the closing 11 league games…which would see Celtic’s all-time best of 116, achieved in 1915-16, eclipsed? Heck, you get the impression Postecoglou wouldn’t see Hearts’ 1957-58 Scottish top flight record of 132 out of reach. Even if that would require the champions-elect to batter them in at a rate of more than four a game. “No one has told me otherwise, mate,” he said of whether it was possible to continue on their current net-bulging trajectory, 16 goals the product of their past four Premiership assignments. ‘We will just keep doing what we are doing. Unless somebody tells you to stop doing something you keep going and see how far it takes you.”

Postecoglou’s crystal clear-eyed approach to his footballing role and inherent responsibilities has taken him a mighty long way. In Scotland, and previously delivering the most significant conceivable silverware for Yokahama F Marinos, the Australian national team, Brisbane Roar and South Melbourne. What is relentless and ruthless is how it imposes on him the requirement to eschew anything approaching friendships with those in his charge. To prevent his management of players becoming clouded, he can’t be matey with them, even as he has said he “loves” them all. In reflecting on his 100th game for Celtic, Matt O’Riley believes he owes a “thank you” to the Australian for his development in Scotland that required “faith” to be shown in a “young player” following the 22-year-old’s £1.5m move from MK Dons 14 months ago. O’Riley would be unlikely to express such sentiments to Postecoglou directly, though.

“He doesn’t actually speak to us much at all,” said the midfielder. “At the training ground, he delivers information when he needs to do so, in meetings and on the pitch in pre-match sessions. In general, you probably won’t see that much of him. He keeps himself to himself. I think that is so he detaches away from the players to allow him to pick a team without too much emotion. So I can understand his reasoning for that. But at the same time, whenever I have spoken to him he has been very friendly. You don’t expect to hear much from him. So when you do you are probably quite grateful that he actually speaks to you, in a way. I think he is careful in terms of when he speaks to you and in saying the right things.”

And, as can be testified from his path to a game-centurion Celtic manager, doing all the right things.