ANGE Postecoglou has expressed confidence the Celtic board will back his ambitious plans to bring players with Champions League experience to Parkhead due to the success he has enjoyed in the transfer marker since being appointed manager last year.
Postecoglou, who was yesterday named Premiership Manager of the Month for the September/October period yesterday, reiterated that he may have sell his best players at the AGM yesterday and warned supporters they may find it “unsettling”.
However, the Greek-Australian coach is certain that he will be given the funds he needs to strengthen his squad with top class replacements who can help the Scottish champions make a greater impression in Europe in future.
“You have to be agile and take opportunities when they come along,” he said. “If that means players moving on, you are a lot more comfortable with it if you already have the solution before it happens.
“Rather than sort of reacting to these things happening, it becomes part of the process of bridging the financial gap that exists with other clubs. I’ve always been comfortable working that way.
“It can be a little bit unsettling at times, especially for supporters if their favourite players don’t stay here for six, seven, eight, nine years. But I think for us as a football club, if we’re going to continue to improve and make inroads, we need to be able to think that way and make sure we take up opportunities when they come along.”
Postecoglou added: “That is the way to go. There are no hard and fast rules, but I think that is how you get yourself up that ladder. That must still be underpinned with good decisions because whether you spend £1, £5m, £20m or £50m or £100m, if you are getting it wrong then you are getting it wrong. For me that is the most important bit.
“What I hope I have proven over the last 12 to 18 months that is for the most part all the players we have brought in irrespective of the levels, they have made an impact. There is a trust from the club that whatever the spend is going to be provided we go through a similar process that if we get it right then we should be getting some really good players as we move along that scale.
“That is how I think and analyse it. There are plenty of other clubs who are our size, probably even smaller to be honest, when you talk about supporters and success – we are a massive club. But how do we breach that financial gap that exists? That is one way of doing it.”
Postecoglou, whose who will have Cameron Carter-Vickers available again this afternoon when his side take on Dundee United at Parkhead in the Premiership, believes he will be able to attract players to Celtic who have competed in the Champions League before going forward.
“Potentially, if we get to those levels financially, why not?” he said. “I think the core is that we will always look at a certain demographic and what I mean by that is that we will always go for the younger scale because that is part of the model that we need to create.
“But there are younger players who have had Champions League experience. You look at that Shakhtar team and the likes of (Mykhailo) Mudryk they are young but they have already had two or three years of Champions League experience because of their football club.
“That is obviously beyond the financial levels we are at but there could be clubs like that where we could look at younger players who have Champions League experience.”
Postecoglou accepts it is impossible for Celtic to compete with clubs in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain in the transfer market due to their resources – but he would like to see Celtic move closer to Dutch and Portuguese outfits on and off the park.
“You have to strive for that,” he said. “It is like the way we play our football in the Champions League just now. We are being taught some pretty good lessons, but I still think that is the way forward. It is a bold approach and it may not benefit us in the short-term, but our thinking needs to be towards that otherwise you stay at a certain level and it is very hard to go beyond that.
“The reality in the Scottish Premiership is we’ll never have the finances to compete with the teams in the Champions League. The financial models in these top five European leagues just seem to keep increasing.
“How are we going to make that ground up? We need to be really aggressive like those clubs we have mentioned who have been very good at it for a long time.”
Postecoglou added: “I’m not disheartened by anything I’ve seen so far, or seen that we can’t go this way. It might just be my nature. I’m really bullish and I think we can so it this way and make up ground.
“I’m haven’t had any frustration or sense there wasn’t any alignment. I’ve had full support along the way. I’ll keep doing it until someone taps me on the shoulder and says, ‘that’s enough’.”
