IT has now been 500 days since Ange Postecoglou became manager of Celtic. At times, he feels it has flown by. At others, the Celtic manager has felt every minute of it. But the only thing that is certain is that he wouldn’t have swapped it for the world.
As milestones go it isn’t the most notable, granted, but given where he started from – and the many doom-mongering predictions of how his appointment might unfold at the time – it is one that still prompts a feeling of satisfaction from Postecoglou as he takes the rare chance to reflect on his Celtic journey so far.
It has been one that has been mainly marked by success, with a Premiership and League Cup double in his first season setting the benchmark by which his on-pitch performance will be measured. Personally though, he views his own success as something wider, being cognisant of his role as the club’s main representative.
“Sometimes it feels like 500 minutes and other times it feels like 500 days depending on where we are at,” Postecoglou said.
“Look, I’ve enjoyed every day of it. There hasn’t been a day where I haven’t enjoyed being in the role.
“From my perspective, when you are not counting the days, it probably means you are enjoying what you are doing and you are still passionate about what you have embarked on.
“I’ve had a fantastic time at the club and everyone is working really hard to get the club back to where it should be and we still have some work to do, but I’ve enjoyed the first part of it.
“You understand you have a greater responsibility than just sort of getting a team ready for the weekend, even though that’s the most important thing.
“In many ways, you are a spokesman for the football club and you can have an impact in so many ways. I guess that that’s what makes it interesting and I have enjoyed that aspect of it.
“I have tried to embrace the whole role as the manager of the club and embraced the role of the responsibility I have.
“Because of that I guess, you have to accept there are going to be different challenges every day, but, again, nothing I have felt uncomfortable doing or haven’t felt good about.
“I’ve felt that, whatever I am doing, I am representing this club and to me that is great.”
That being said, he was also keenly aware that only success in terms of silverware would keep him in the job he was waiting for his whole career, and that too will be the thing that keeps him there – or otherwise – going forward.
“I was well aware coming in when I did after an unsuccessful year that, like every manager, we all have a clock ticking against us,” he said. “It’s just how long people will give us time to build what we want.
“I was conscious that I had to do things pretty quickly and I wanted to do them quickly, but at the same time, you can’t rush things. You have to get decisions right.
“I’ve been really pleased with the progress not just on the field but off it with what we are trying to create here, whether that be at Lennoxtown or Celtic Park.
“I think we are building some really good foundations for what we want to do for the next phase. Again, I enjoy that part of the role. The initial stages, the building.
“I am pleased we were able to deliver in our first year and the plan is that, hopefully, we can deliver more in the year coming.”
It is often said that at Celtic, you are only ever one loss away from a crisis, and Postecoglou knows that too. But that doesn’t stop him trying to lay some long-term foundations while still aiming for short-term success.
“I’ve said before, I kind of take every role as if I’m going to here forever knowing full well that I won’t be because some of that is taken out of your hands,” he said.
“But I always try to make decisions that puts the club in the best position not just for short-term success, but also long-term success.
“That’s what I mean about not just on the field, but off it. I’m really proud of the foundations that have been put down in all the departments in terms of resources and people that we have brought in. I think the club is in a really good place.”
Postecoglou takes his team to Tynecastle at lunchtime today, and as well as contending with the always raucous atmosphere and a Hearts team he feels will be a wounded animal after a poor recent run of form, his team will also play under the watchful eye of VAR for the first time on the domestic scene.
It may not be a surprise to hear that he is rather more concerned with how his team handles the first two concerns on that list, rather than the last one.
“I don’t spend too much time thinking about it,” he said.
“I know everyone is excited by it, but I don’t get that excited by the introduction of VAR.
“It’s there as a tool to help referees. I think it is more exciting for the referees, I guess. But it has no effect on me, or the way we play, or the way I coach.
“A success for me would be that we don’t need to use it because the referees are catching everything. If we do need to use it, hopefully, it is used in the right way.
“But, like I said, I have had experience with it and I’m not really that sort of excited by the introduction here.
“I’ve said before, it needs to be introduced because everyone other league in the world has got it and every other competition, so we just need to get it in and get on with it.”
