2.3 points per game
As most Scottish Premiership fans will know, success in Scotland tends to last only so long before a club south of the border takes notice. At this moment in time, that inconvenient fact of the modern game seems to be the main bother of Celtic fans, as they watch with growing concern over Tottenham Hotspur’s reported interest in their manager Ange Postecoglou.
According to the Daily Mail and multiple reports throughout the British press, the 57-year-old head coach is now one of the leading contenders to be Antonio Conte’s successor at the North London club. Spurs have been without a full-time manager since the Italian tactician departed in late March and while the Premier League giants may have tried to sign bigger names in the managerial world before landing on Postecoglou, it’s not hard to see why the Australian coach now looks like an enticing option.
Better than Brendan Rodgers?
Hired directly on the heels of Rangers breaking Celtic’s decade-long dominance of the Scottish top-flight and after the club had reportedly missed out on convincing Eddie Howe to take over, Postecoglou arrived in Glasgow as a relatively unknown and arguably underwhelming appointment. But few could doubt that the 57-year-old manager has far surpassed any expectations placed on him and has perhaps become the club’s best head coach in quite some time.
This is apparent from Postecoglou’s stats at the club. To date, the Celtic manager has averaged 2.3 points per game after managing 112 games in all competitions. Not only is that better than his predecessor Neil Lennon’s return but it’s even better than Brendan Rodgers’ return at the Glasgow club, which has often been considered the gold standard for any Celtic manager. Even if the Northern Irish coach didn’t depart the club in the most amicable of manners. When narrowed down to just league performances, Postecoglou also outshines Rodgers quite considerably. Following back-to-back league titles in his first two seasons at the club, the Australian manager has averaged 2.53 points per game. Which is, impressively, higher than Rodgers’ average of 2.44.
The Scottish Premiership: Biggest winners from the market value update
Rebuild and success all at the same time
What makes Postecoglou’s spell at Celtic all the more impressive is that he’s achieved notable success all while performing a major overhaul of the squad at the same time. Over the course of his first two seasons at the club, the Australian manager has seen the club sign no less than 25 players and for the most part they’ve all worked out to be great bits of business.
For example, if we look at the Scottish Premiership market value changes since Postecoglou arrived at Celtic, the Glasgow club can lay claim to the top 10 biggest increases in market value. With all but one of those players signed by the club during Postecoglou reign and often at the behest and prior knowledge of the former Yokohama F. Marinos, Melbourne and Brisbane Roar manager. In other words, Celtic have not only been able to rely on Postecoglou’s managerial talents, but he’s also proven to be an excellent wealth of knowledge when it comes to signing exciting, young players from the Asian and Oceania markets.
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