When Ange Postecoglou was making his emotional post-match speech to an adoring crowd on the day Celtic lifted the league trophy in May, he mentioned a fashion accessory.
The manager thanked the Celtic fans for embracing him, his family and, pointing to what he was wearing: “This jumper.” That garment had become the most revered article of clothing in Scottish football since Walter Smith’s cardigan was the definition of power dressing inside Ibrox at the start of the Millennium.
Or Fergus McCann’s bunnet during the period when he first of all rescued, then resurrected, Celtic in the last years of the 20th century. Now Ange appears to have ditched the jumper in favour of a shiny new tracksuit. For a day at least. And that’s because he’s clearly not the type of man given to superstition or anything else that isn’t based on hard-bitten reality. It wasn’t the label inside the back of his jumper that won Celtic the league title last season.
