Peter Lawwell has claimed that winning is in the DNA of Ange Postecoglou.
Yesterday the Australian watched Yokohama Marinos lose on penalties to Fourth Division Honda in an Emperor Cup tie. According to Transfermarkt Postecoglou took an average of 1.66 points per match from 161 games in charge of the Japanese club, around a 50% win rate.
Postecoglou is best known for taking charge of Australia at the 2014 World Cup, since moving to Yokohama the club finished 12th, 1st and 9th in the J League.
After failing to entice Eddie Howe to take over from Neil Lennon Celtic’s attention turned to the Australian but it is unclear who was involved in face-to-face talks.
Lawwell will retire at the end of this month but made it known that the appointment of a new manager is on his watch.
On the Celtic website the outgoing CEO said:
Ange is a manager we have known about for a number of years and someone who has been prominent in our thoughts for some time.
He is a great coach who has attractive, winning football in his DNA. He has an excellent record, he is a very strong personality and someone with a real desire and passion to take Celtic forward.
I wish Ange and Dominic all the very best for the future and I am sure they will work towards delivering great success to the Club and our supporters.
During his Celtic TV interview Postecoglou said:
I had Kenny Dalglish posters all over my walls mate, a club that I have followed for a long time.
Dom McKay gave his first interview to Celtic TV but was unable to give a date when Postecoglou will arrive in Scotland, the Celtic first team squad begin pre-season training a week today.