Australian legend Mark Schwarzer insists Ange Postecoglou has done an “incredible” job to go from apparent no-hoper to trophy winner and title contender in less than seven months.
The former keeper piled praise on the Celtic boss for the way he has defied criticism of his appointment and then recovered from an early major set-back of Champions League elimination.
Postecoglou picked up the first trophy of the season with Premier Sports Cup final victory over Hibernian at Hampden.
And they go into the winter break six points behind a Rangers side who finished 25 points ahead of the Hoops lats season.
Schwarzer predicts a thrilling title race in the second half of the campaign with a crucial derby coming up at Parkhead.
The ex- Premier League star was capped 109 times for the Socceroos but retired just as Postecoglou took over the national side.
But the 49-year-old has been impressed with his work in Scotland and backed Postecoglou with former Rangers defender Kevin Muscat recently slamming the critics of his appointment.
Schwarzer told sen.com.au : “What he has done is remarkable, it’s an incredible achievement for an Australian coach in Europe and Celtic are back.
“Celtic have won silverware and are genuine contenders to get back that title and get the Scottish Premiership away from Rangers again so it’s an exciting season.
“When you think about the obstacle being laid out in front of him - being written off from the minute he signed.
“Certainly even leading up to it, people writing him off before he was even appointed manager to people saying there was no chance it was going to work to having a bad start, being knocked out of the Champions League.
“But that could have happened to any single manager that took over at Celtic at that period of time because of the lack of time he had to spend with the team.
“He had literally zero opportunity to put his ideas on the side and rebuild a team and the expectations. He’s done an incredible job.”
