IT will no doubt be cold comfort to the largely irate Aberdeen support that the managers’ union are rallying behind Pittodrie chairman Dave Cormack’s decision to grant Jim Goodwin a stay of execution, particularly if their team follow up the disaster in Darvel with a calamity in the capital this afternoon.
The surprise call by Cormack may turn out to be a wise move in the long run though according to Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou, who points to Robbie Neilson at Heart of Midlothian as the perfect example of what can happen if a board ignore the baying crowd and stick by their man.
Neilson of course had his own Scottish Cup horror night when his team were beaten 2-1 by Highland League side Brora Rangers back in 2021, but they are now reaping the rewards of refusing to bring the axe down on their manager, comfortably clear in their position as Scotland’s third-best team.
There are no such pressures of course on Postecoglou, who can’t be far away from having rose petals lavished at his feet as he walks the corridors of Celtic Park, but he has empathy for colleagues who currently do not enjoy such feted status among their fanbase.
What he does know though is that clubs who chop and change their managers at a frequency Aberdeen would be guilty of if they did sack Goodwin - they dismissed Derek McInnes’s successor Stephen Glass within 11 months – rarely find themselves achieving their goals.
“You understand that everyone has their own challenges,” Postecoglou said.
“Even guys who are going well, you don’t just sit back and think they have got it easy by any stretch.
“Everyone is under pressure in certain ways. These days, clubs tend to be pretty quick to pull the trigger.
“The one thing that has proven is that that is no recipe for success. Any clubs changing managers on a regular basis rarely have any sustained success.
“The guy who is on top of the Premier League at the moment, Mikel Arteta, is a guy who people were calling for his head not long ago. Now he’s the best manager in the league.
“The best clubs tend to pick the people that they think are the right ones for the job and then support them to get the job done.
“Someone mentioned it, Robbie Neilson at Hearts. He’s done a fantastic job the last three years and it wasn’t that long ago with him [that he was under pressure]. If they had changed him, they could have changed another half a dozen since then and probably not the success they have had now.
“All of us have family and friends around us who can be that support network that you need. Aside from that, I think there is a general respect that all managers have for each other and an understanding for each other.
“We all feel for guys who are going through a tough time in our roles because we know that could be us one day. So, there is a respect there.
“It’s getting tougher, for sure. The scrutiny is a lot greater due to the way we communicate these days.
“I’ve said it before, when I first started, I could wait until Monday’s papers to read about how poor I was. Now it’s happening before the final whistle goes because of social media.
“Young managers are having to deal with that a lot more, but, again, it’s about finding the right mechanisms to cope with that.”
The Celtic manager has become something of an elder statesman in the Scottish game already, offering counsel to younger gaffers when he can, particularly those who are feeling the heat and fearing for their livelihoods.
“It’s dependent on the other managers,” he said. “I’m always respectful because I know how difficult the job is.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time now. It’s my 26th/27th year of managing at this level and, especially young coaches, if I can have any kind of chats with them and just give them a little bit of guidance and mainly the advice is to just to be themselves.
“Particularly when you are a young manager, there’s a lot of people telling you what to do and how to do things.
“The important thing is to be yourself.”
One manager who was open to Postecoglou’s promptings was Dundee United manager Liam Fox, who welcomes Celtic to Tannadice tomorrow for the first time since they scored nine goals there to hasten the departure of his predecessor Jack Ross.
Postecoglou can’t promise he won’t set his team out to do the same again, but having been impressed by the way Fox has steadied the United ship, he thinks it unlikely.
“Liam was receptive,” he said.
“I’m not going to go to people who I feel are quite happy with their own counsel. It depends on individuals, and I think Liam has really settled that group.
“They had a really tough start to the year. People highlight our [9-0] result, but there were some bad results in Europe as well.
“If you look at their form since the break, they have been really consistent, and he will surely be happy with that as he’ll be looking for further growth.
“We expect a big test.”
Celtic travel to Tannadice with a new striker in tow, and Hyeongyu Oh may well feature having declared himself ready for action.
“He’s had three sessions now and there’s one on Saturday,” Postecoglou said.
“He was in pre-season training and had been doing it for three weeks, so, physically, he’s in decent shape.
“He obviously hasn’t played since November, so match fitness wise, he’s out a bit. It’s been a big week for him with the travel physically and emotionally.
“It’s one I’ll assess. I’m keen to get him involved as quickly as possible, but if it is not this weekend, it’ll definitely be midweek.
“I’ll see how he is going, but in terms of doing the training, he’s been fine.”
