It might not have been the Ronny Roar but a year ago this weekend, the Postecoglou fist pump made its first appearance after what the Celtic manager believes was the most important game of a campaign that was to end in league and League Cup glory.
Pittodrie, October 3, 2021 and Celtic and their new boss looked like they were on the rack. Away defeats had been suffered at Tynecastle, Ibrox and Livingston. They'd been knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers by Denmark's Midtjylland.
They had not won in nine previous league games on the road; a run going back to February 14 in the previous campaign in the dying throes of Neil Lennon's reign. This was a team, a club, in desperate need of a win at Aberdeen that day and Jota's 84th minute winner was, in Ange Postecoglou's view, the launchpad for the success that was to follow.
It's hard to argue with that assessment. The cold hard facts show that Celtic didn't lose another league game - in fact, their defeat last time out against St Mirren just before the international break was their first Premiership loss in 364 days - and of the 37 domestic matches they played after the 2-1 win in the Granite City, their only domestic reverse came in extra time against Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi final.
The international break, which has seen the Australian's players scattered across the globe, also gave the Celtic boss the chance to return home to publicise Celtic's participation in the Sydney Cup in November, but before leaving, Postecoglou reflected on the troubled start he'd had at Parkhead when trying to build a squad from scratch.
And although he always believed he would get it right, the Aussie reckons that trip to Pittodrie was the day that his players were convinced that they were involved in something special.
As the Celtic support exploded with joy that day, Postecoglou led his players charge towards them, fist-pumping, just as Deila had done for the first time on the same ground back in November 2014, giving birth to the Ronny Roar.
Postecoglou isn't as demonstrative as the extroverted Norwegian but he knows full well the importance of that afternoon. "I expected it to be a rough start," he told the Currie Club podcast recently. "My objective was that I couldn't let that go on too long.
"I was throwing in players before they were ready. Kyogo literally was having lunch with the players at the hotel and I put him on for the last 10 minutes against Hearts in the first game. Carl Starfelt hadn't even trained with us and he started that game.
"The reason for that was it was a way to quicken the process but you can't expect the results when it's like that. It was chaotic.
"I thought if I could get through that initial period quickly, I had a real belief that when the team was up and running, the football we play would have an impact. Wherever I've worked, that's been the cornerstone of what I've done.
"I thought it (Pittodrie) was a bigger moment for the players than the fans. I sensed before that the fans could see something was happening. We'd had a couple of big wins before that at home. We'd had two 6-0s (against Dundee and St Mirren) and Kyogo had scored a hat-trick, so they could see some seeds there.
"But that game was really important for the players. Winning away from home gains so much belief, especially at Aberdeen which is a tough place to go.
"The way we won, scoring late. That's when I felt the pendulum shifted for the players. Up until then I had kind of been saying to them: 'bide your time and it will kick in,' and I felt that after that game the players felt; 'okay, this is the moment he's been talking about.'
"After that game, I sensed within the playing group that they started to see it themselves and believe 'okay, we can go on a bit of a run here.' "
The Celtic boss is back in Scotland preparing his team to go on another run, having ended their long unbeaten sequence in Paisley 10 days ago. Postecoglou's side get back on the horse against Motherwell at Celtic Park and he will be fretting over the safe return of the players who have been on international duty, knowing that several have had fitness issues while representing their countries.
David Turnbull came home early from the Scotland squad, while Giorgos Giakoumakis and Daizen Maeda were concerns for Greece and Japan respectively. The news that Montenegro international Sead Haksabanovic lasted only 32 minutes for his country against Finland on Monday night before falling victim to a tackle that forced his withdrawal, will be another concern to the Australian.
The former Rubin Kazan attacker will be assessed on his return to Glasgow but is a major doubt for the visit of the Lanarkshire outfit in a match that has taken on added significance as Celtic would go into a point behind Rangers if the Ibrox side wins at Tynecastle in the lunchtime kick off on Saturday.
READ NEXT:
