How Ange Postecoglou stands apart from Celtic and Rangers managers for almost four decades in one facet of derby duels

In preparing his Celtic side for their face-off with ancient adversaries Rangers in Sunday’s Viaplay Cup final, Ange Postecoglou can consider he has already experienced oodles in the fabled fixture.

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou could be applauded over an unusual derby run ushered in by his arrival in Scotland. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

Yet, one omission makes him unique among managers to have helmed either of Scotland’s big two since the mid-1980s. The Australian will take charge of Celtic for the eighth time against the Ibrox side when the combatants wrestle to lift the League Cup at Hampden. The fact that the seven derby confrontations he has been involved in haven’t produced a single red card places him in an unprecedented position.

Now, it must be said that managers of the Glasgow clubs have regularly failed to enjoy the longevity to contest seven matches against their greatest rivals. Giovanni van Bronckhorst the latest such unfortunate through being deposed in November only a year and four Celtic encounters into his Ibrox tenure. He followed on from Pedro Caixinha, Mark Warbuton and Paul le Guen in the blue corner, and Ronny Deila, Tony Mowbray and Lou Macari in the green one, not reaching the seven derby mark. Deila a different case in so much as there wasn’t a Rangers in the top flight across his two-year stint from 2014. Plenty of managers have had more derby days than Postecolgou, though. Yet, starting with 1986 - the earliest point that provides reliable red card data - none of them has failed to witness a referee banishing one of the combatants across their first seven immersions of what traditionally - and unsurprisingly - has been an intemperate match-up.

There are no simple explanations as to why it has been a different story in the Postecoglou era. Two Celtic drubbings in the past 20 months might account for a lack of edge in those games, but the other five have been fiercely contested. The 57-year-old demands an aggressive, intense approach from his players, but is adept at ensuring they are disciplined in channelling their intent. And when his men were ranged against van Bronckhorst's Rangers, they were in jousts with a team deliberately studied in their design. Cue Postecoglou’s first derby final bringing a mass brawl that results in both teams being reduced to nine men…

In reality, such frenzies do not feel as if they belong in the modern age. When Graeme Souness took the reins at Rangers in 1986, they were very much part and parcel of the derby mix. Infamously, indeed, in his second season, the October 1987 meeting of the teams brought three red cards, Rangers earning two of these following an altercation involving Chris Woods, Terry Butcher and Celtic’s Frank McAvennie. Court appearances for the trio and public order stirrer Graham Roberts , who conducted the home crowd in sectarian chanting, ensued. It followed the first derby of that campaign being notable for player-manager Souness receiving a straight red for a wild tackle on Billy Stark.

The most recent dismissal in the fixture came only two months before Postecoglou pitched up in Scotland. It was the consequence of Callum McGregor being booked twice in the space of a few minutes at Ibrox in April 2021 as Steven Gerrard's already crowned- champions dished out a 4-1 thumping of a Celtic that had crumbled in pursuit of a record 10th straight title. The current run of seven games without a red in the fixture isn’t in itself without parallel. Between March 2003 and November 2004, eight derbies were contested minus either side’s full complement of personnel being reduced by any transgressions.