Soccer Football - Champions League - Group F - Shakhtar Donetsk v Celtic - Stadion Wojska Polskiego, Warsaw, Poland - September 14, 2022 Celtic manager Ange Postecoglu during the match REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Chris Sutton believes that Frank Lampard has nothing to fear from tomorrow’s dug-out rival in Sydney.
With Everton again in free-fall and deep in another relegation fight the pressure is on the former Chelsea boss just as it was a year ago when Rafa Benitez was in charge at Goodison.
As has become standard Ange Postecoglou has been linked with a possible vacancy but that suggestion doesn’t take account the nature of the job that the Australian has done at Celtic.
Everton and other EPL strugglers require a fire-fighter, a Sam Allardyce type with the former England boss saving Everton from relegation in season 2017/18 before being ditched for Marco Silva.
Postecoglou generally takes two seasons to turn a club around, in the EPL that may involve a relegation which is the scenario that Everton are dreading. Celtic is the quickest turnaround job on Postecoglou’s CV but with only one realistic domestic competitor the job was less complex than the task facing whoever is in charge at Goodison.
With almost complete control of transfer activity and the lure of the Champions League Sutton is convinced that Postecoglou’s immediate future is in Glasgow as he told the Daily Record:
Postecoglou has the added incentive of being on home soil, as well as the talk in the background he could be in the frame for the Everton job if Frank Lampard doesn’t cut it.
There are lots of ifs, buts and maybes, too many to take it too seriously right now. The same goes for the link with the Japan job. They’ve got a guy in charge and could have a decent World Cup.
There’s no doubt there is interest in Postecoglou and that will only grow. His CV is seriously impressive and at some stage there will be a call.
Would he answer it to the likes of Everton? I doubt it. I said the same a few weeks ago when it was Brighton being mentioned.
Postecoglou will have ambitions but is he going to trade titles and the Champions League for all that uncertainty. How many managers have Everton gone through in recent years? Even Carlos Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez couldn’t crack it there. It’s been a decade or so since their last decent finish in the Premier League.
I get the sense Postecoglou has unfinished business in the Champions League. He’s got a taste for it now and he’ll want another bash to prove his philosophy can get results at that level.
Lampard is Everton’s seventh permanent manager since Davie Moyes left for Manchester United in 2013 with David Unsworth and Duncan Ferguson twice having caretaker stints in-between costly new appointments.
Postecoglou remains on a 12 month rolling contract at Celtic with no word of an improvement on the deal he signed in May 2021.
Ange will be very aware of our history and the fact that we weren’t given a prayer against Inter in 1967 due to their perceived superiority and their defensive impregnability. Look how that turned out with Big Jock running things and us playing beautiful, attacking and successful football. We won everything we entered that year with a squad of players who all lived within 30 miles of Glasgow. Okay, much has changed now and money talks even louder but we can go out and battle with the best; we had chances against ALL of our Euro opponents this year and passed too many up, but that’s fitba. Other outcomes were possible. If we gain in confidence and convert more chances we WILL get some terrific results. Oh, and a wee bit tighter at the back please. But let’s go forward, play our beautiful fitba and see where it takes us. Most importantly, come back strong and take the title so that we can compete at the top table again next season. And, see that shower South of the river, just sit back and enjoy the ride as they implode, probably before Xmas. I just thank my lucky stars I was born a Tim.