FOOTBALL manager meet-and-greets with supporters tend to follow an all-too familiar script.
Hands are shaken, selfies are taken, backs are slapped and lame jokes are cracked. After a few bland soundbites about how honoured they are to be at such a great club and how they are working hard to deliver the success the fans deserve, the guest of honour is quickly on his way.
But when Ange Postecoglou met with members of the Executive Club in the Kerrydale Suite at Parkhead last season it was different. He hung around for a couple of hours, fielded questions on any subject, spoke openly about his impressions of Scottish football and generally offered a revealing insight into his methods, ideology and ambitions.
At the time, Kyogo Furuhashi, the £4.6m striker who had netted 16 times in the first half of the 2021/22 campaign, was sidelined by a hamstring injury which he had suffered in the cinch Premiership match against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park on Boxing Day.
One of those in attendance plucked up the courage to ask the Greek-Australian coach if he felt that, with the benefit of hindsight, fielding the Japanese forward in the League Cup final against Hibernian at Hampden the week before that fateful outing in Perth had been unwise.
The summer acquisition had been out of action in the build-up to the game. He returned and scored both of the goals in a 2-0 triumph. However, his involvement came at a cost. He suffered a recurrence of his hamstring problem seven days later and spent over three months out thereafter.
Postecoglou was unrepentant. He confessed that not having Furuhashi in the preceding weeks had been irksome. However, he stressed that winning the competition had been so vital to him personally and the club as a whole that he felt the risk had been worth taking.
The victory had, he argued, vindicated the changes which he had implemented, instilled belief in his charges that his tactics could yield rewards and provided a springboard for them to surge to the top of the cinch Premiership table.
Sure enough, Celtic, who had been transformed after the winter break, reclaimed the Scottish title in May with a game to spare and booked their place in the Champions League group stages.
The Viaplay-sponsored League Cup – which will be decided at Hampden tomorrow when the defending champions take on their city rivals Rangers – is without doubt the lesser of the three domestic prizes which clubs in this country compete for.
But it can in many ways be the most important.
Rangers manager Michael Beale - who is, like Postecoglou last term, attempting to resurrect the fortunes of his club after a difficult spell at the moment – is desperate to lift his first piece of silverware as manager
But at the sponsor’s pre-match press conference on Tuesday he confessed that the Ibrox outfit’s priorities lie elsewhere. “I don’t know where it is in the pecking order,” he said. “But it’s not number one. So it’s important that after this weekend we get back to trying to pick up the trophies we want to.”
He had a point. He will live and die by his side’s performances in the league. If Celtic retain the title in the coming months, and there is every chance they will given the commanding nine point lead they hold with 12 fixtures remaining, he will certainly survive. Next season that will not be the case.
Winning this weekend, though, could have far-reaching ramifications. It will endear him to tens of thousands of notoriously hard-to-please supporters, ingratiate him to his players and show that he has the nous required to be the Rangers manager.
His situation is similar to that which Alex McLeish found himself in when he took over from Dick Advocaat at the end of 2001. The side was playing poorly and the squad was riven with cliques and in-fighting. Celtic, who had Martin O’Neill at the helm, were comfortably the dominant force in the country.
The appointment of McLeish, who had previously been in charge of Motherwell and Hibernian, had not, like that of Beale, been applauded by all Bears either.
But the former Aberdeen and Scotland and centre half led, after an extra-time semi-final victory over holders Celtic, Rangers to the League Cup just three months into his reign and then went from strength to strength. He completed a domestic treble the next year.
Beale needs to perform radical surgery on his squad this summer if Rangers are to be crowned champions in his first full season. Ageing and underperforming players need to be thanked for their years of service and moved on. Fresh talent and new faces needed to be brought in.
He must, unlike his predecessor Giovanni van Bronckhorst last year, be handed considerable funds by his paymasters if he is to succeed.
Still, a League Cup win over Celtic would not do his cause any harm whatsoever in the meantime. It will certainly ensure that he receives a warm welcome at any meet-and greets with Rangers fans in the coming weeks.
