Celtic qualified for the Europa League with a strong defensive performance in Holland last night. Ok, it was a strong performance with some last ditch defending but you know what, I’ll take it.
The Hoops were supposed to take this season as a transition period. A year to build the squad and possibly forego the title and any hopes of European football.
Until Ange Postecoglou got to grips with the club.
The transformation has been incredible. You don’t need me to go over it again as we have all seen the difference with out very own eyes.
Australian news outlet, Fox News, gave a glowing account of the size of the achievement Postecoglou has brought to the club and in the midst of it, very brilliantly tore shreds from the journalist Celtic fans love to hate, Hugh Keevins.
It really was an incredible article.
Adam Peacock certainly didn’t hold back his disdain of Keevins. I could try and describe it but I’ll let Peacock’s words run free, “Before he said a word, before he told anyone to kick a ball, Postecoglou rolled in to Glasgow as nothing more than a symbol of a crumbling empire in Scotland.
“Bounced out of the Champions League, the derision continued. Then Celtic got beaten by newly-promoted Hearts in the opening league game. Radio, TV, online, all of it, relentless!
“This Ange bloke, from that bloody football backwater, was going to take this club nowhere.
“Or as veteran Scottish scribe Hugh Keevins observed just 25 days ago: “At the very least we now know what ‘Ange’ Postecoglou stands for. Absolutely. Not. Good. Enough.”
“Poor Hugh. History, and it’s not even month-old history, hasn’t been kind to flippant opinion based on very little.
“Can only assume he took one look at the CV on Postecoglou’s Wikipedia page and assumed. Hugh had many friends in this regard. It was a pile-on.”
And Peacock is 100% correct. They (the Scottish media) tried to do with Postecoglou what they did do Ronny Deila. But Ange wasn’t having any of it and his direct style has put a few journalists bang to rights.
It is glorious to watch the big Aussie boss and the Celtic fans already love him dearly. And as for Hugh Keevins? Well, I can’t add anything more than a massive “Well Done” to Adam Peacock.
All they needed was a mind slightly ajar to the possibility competent managers in the world’s biggest sport can actually come from other parts of the world.
In the lead-up to his direct acronym, Hugh wasn’t paying much attention.