Celtic legend Stiliyan Petrov has hailed Ange Postecoglou for taking the reins at a club with “no direction” and steering them to the Scottish title in just 10 months.
The former Parkhead midfielder has been blown away by Postecoglou’s impact since arriving to pick up the pieces from the chaotic bid for 10-in-a-row last June.
Not only did the Aussie have to rebuild the Hoops squad in the wake of the departures of Neil Lennon and chief executive Peter Lawwell but he faced major questions over his expansive style of play after losing three of his first six league games in charge and being dumped out the Champions League at the first qualifying hurdle.
Postecoglou’s side clicked into gear in the autumn though and never lost any of their final 32 league matches as they reclaimed the title from Rangers.
Petrov reckons the former Yokohama Marinos boss has done an “incredible job” to take Celtic back to the top in such a short space of time and clinch the moneyspinning Champions League group stage spot into the bargain.
It’s a shift made all the more impressive by what Postecoglou inherited, according to the Bulgarian.
Petrov, who won four titles with the Hoops between 2001 and 2006, told Planet Sport : “The uncertainty around the club, especially when Neil Lennon left, there was a couple people on the board (that) had left as well so there was a lot of uncertainty.
"There was no direction for the club, a lot of questions out there.
“I think the main candidate Eddie Howe was the one everyone was pushing for, everyone wanted him the become the manager - everyone was actually expecting him to takeover.
"But all of a sudden Celtic had made a U-turn. They went to somebody else and they appointed a very interesting man in charge - a man who maybe mostly a lot of people in Scotland don't know about.
"I've got a lot of friends who played in Japan. When that appointment came, they were actually quite excited to see how he was going to do in Celtic.
"When I had the conversation about Postecoglou, I asked what kind of manager he is, what kind of profile of a manager is he?
"They were actually very positive about his way of managing. His style of play. Soon within a couple months I could see why everybody was so happy and so positive about him.”
Postecoglou has refused to deviate from that philosophy of high intensity, attacking football even after a couple of heavy defeats in Europe.
It led to criticism in some quarters of a manager putting pride over pragmatism. Even this month when asked if he would consider parking the bus in next season’s Champions League Postecoglou joked he’d never owned a bus.
Petrov is convinced he’s a top coach though. And he says convincing the support that his way would produce results is one of his biggest achievements.
Petrov said: “Celtic have been able to appoint the man (who knows) exactly what he wants.
“He's very clear in his philosophy.
"He had to convince the fans, especially with the attractive style, sometimes in certain games they'll control the game, and they'll play well but they won't score enough goals so the fans were asking questions and we in the studio were asking questions.
"He's managed to convince everyone that that's the way. Obviously he had to convince the board that his training methods and his way of working is a successful one.
“He has done an incredible job by believing in what he can do.”
