When Ange Postecoglou arrived as the manager of Celtic, it is safe to say that it was not a popular decision from the club. They had been linked with Eddie Howe for months and it was believed to be a matter of time before the former Bournemouth manager arrived at Parkhead. That did not turn out to be the case though as a move failed to materialise and the Hoops appointed the former Australia national team boss instead.

Less than a year on and he has become a cult figure at Celtic, guiding the club to an unlikely Scottish League Cup and Premiership double, when there was very little hope that they could compete for trophies.

The odds were pretty much stacked against Postecoglou, as he almost had to rebuild the squad from scratch. Moving forward though, there will be some stability at the club and as a result, many are excited to see what is to come in the future.

Postecoglou seems to be very positive though. As reported by The Scotsman, the Celtic manager said:

“You look at 80 per cent of this squad and I’d suggest they didn’t do a pre-season,.

“They either came in after pre-season, or in the winter, or were injured. We have a lot of players like Kyogo and David Turnbull who missed big chunks of the season because we overburdened them at the start of the season. We will get natural improvement because we are at a much better starting point. The challenge then is to keep pushing the players to be better and add to the squad to make us stronger. Where we start on the first day of pre-season will be way ahead of where we were.

“There’s no secret. I tell the players that the magic out there comes from sheer hard work every day. Every day coming into training trying to be better, pushing one another and respecting everyone who you work alongside. Just sheer hard work, sweat and tears. Pushing yourself every day. It’s easy to say but doing it is the only way you can create something special.”

Postecoglou comments on Celtic future

It is safe to say that Celtic are in a much better position now than they were at the start of the campaign. Of course, there will be changes in the summer.

The club have already announced that Tom Rogic and Nir Bitton will be leaving. And the likes of Albian Ajeti, Boli Bolingoli, Vasilis Barkas, Ismaila Soro, Christopher Jullien and a few others could follow them out of the door as well, after struggling for playing time.

But at the same time, one will expect arrivals, especially with the club returning to the Champions League group stage after years. Thus, do not be surprised if they pull off a big signing or two. All in all, it is an exciting time to be a Celtic fan.

This article was originally posted here