I could see what was happening- Goldson reveals how he feared losing title to new boss Ange Postecoglou

Connor Goldson has revealed that he feared in pre-season of 2021 that Celtic were going to regain the SPFL Premiership title.

After winning the previous season’s title by 25 points it wasn’t a common view as Ange Postecoglou inherited a mammoth rebuild task with the clock ticking away towards the end of the transfer window.

Danish side Midtjylland ended Celtic’s Champions League hopes in the second qualifying round, domestically the hoops picked up 10 points from their first seven matches with few showing signs of belief in ‘Angeball’.

Steven Gerrard had held on to all of his title winning stars, losing to Malmo in the Champions League third round was a blow but winning the August Glasgow Derby seemed to underline their status as favourites following the events of the previous season.

It was slow progress for Celtic but on November 11 Gerrard quit Ibrox for Aston Villa, the following weekend Celtic beat St Johnstone in the semi-final of the League Cup. The next day Goldson’s side were knocked out by Hibs, trailing 3-0 at half-time at Hampden with the former Shrewsbury defender highly critical of his team-mates in a post-match interview.

The following month Celtic beat Hibs 2-1 in the League Cup Final, Postecoglou had delivered a trophy with doubts emerging at Ibrox as they faced a serious challenge with fans back inside stadiums providing an extra dimension.

Speaking to the Daily Record Goldson explained how Celtic took control domestically:

I always remember doing an interview after we lost to Hibs in the League Cup semi-final when Steven left.

I got absolutely hammered for it at the time. But that was me saying that we had come back and weren’t as hungry as we were the year before when we knew everything was on the line.

I could feel it in the pre-season. The running we’d done the year before … suddenly people didn’t want to do that any more. I felt after that semi-final was the right time to say it and maybe it didn’t come across well. But when I was at the club, I felt I was the person who had to say things like that.

I took the stick for it but do I regret it? No, I don’t. We didn’t look as hungry or as fit as we’d been the year we won the league.

Celtic lost a lot of key players that summer and – it was fortunate for them – but no-one thought that Ange would do what he did there.

The whole football club took its eye off the ball when Celtic lost a lot of players and their manager.

Unfortunately for us, they quickly turned it around. I was frustrated at that time because I could see what was going on. I could see what was happening.

Even during the season, when we’d dropped points and the title race was still close – I felt I had to say something to get a reaction. It didn’t go down well but if you look at how things have panned out, I think that I was right. When Steven left, standards got lower.

Celtic moved into top place in the Premiership on February 2 and went on to win at Ibrox on route to winning the title by six points.

Since the summer of 2021 the trophy count has been 9-2 in Celtic’s favour with every indication that the hoops will add to that gap this season.