Paul Lambert has paid the ultimate compliment tribute to Ange Postecoglou by comparing some of his traits to former Hoops boss Wim Jansen.
Lambert was given the honour of carrying the SPFL Premiership up the Celtic Way last season and has been majorly impressed by the Australian boss since his arrival in Glasgow.
With talk in recent days around English Premier League interest now being quashed, the former Borussia Dortmund midfielder reckons that Postecoglou won’t be distracted from the task he has at Celtic to look elsewhere.
“I think that talk will go hand in hand with him because of how well he is doing here. But if you are talking about size of clubs they can’t compare with Celtic. There is no comparison. You can compare the leagues without a doubt but the job he has got here is huge, he has got European football here and hopefully the club can go and continue getting Champions League, can continue getting points on the board, can continue qualifying”, said Paul Lamber speaking to the Daily Record.
“Because that will entice bigger and better players to come if they see the club getting Champions League football. If he keeps doing well here then it will be up to him to make a decision if teams in England or in Europe come for him. But if he manages to maintain the success he’s had here he might not want to leave.”
Postecoglou has clear ambitions about the position he wants Celtic to be in years down the line, with his job at the club far from done.
It is natural for Ange Postecoglou and some of his players to be attracting attention from elsewhere as it shows how well they are currently doing.
In the coming months there will likely be managerial vacancies coming up in England but Lambert can’t see a repeat of the situation which saw former Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers head for Leicester City in February 2019.
“It’s better to be linked with jobs than having fans calling for your head. You’d rather be told you are doing great than folk saying there’s a car waiting for you out the front.
“I think he loves it here. You can go to another club and all of a sudden things don’t work and you are back to square one. At the moment he’s got everything rocking here. Keeping it going is easier said than done.”
The turnaround since the former Socceroos boss arrived at the club has been quite something with the 57-year old able to bring back instant success to Celtic having won two trophies in his first season which was dubbed as a rebuild.
Lambert believes that similarities can be drawn between Postecoglou and his former boss Jansen who halted Rangers winning 10-in-a-row back in 1998.
“Ange must have a wry smile on his face when you consider some of the stick he got when he first came in.
“I see some parallels with Wim. He lost his first few games and people were saying he had to go. Henrik Larsson got stick after giving the ball away a few times, but he turned out not bad either.
“People without much knowledge were criticising him but Ange is not daft. I’ve met him at training and he’s a good guy with a great way about him. The fans are totally on board with him.”
Celtic return to action on Wednesday evening as they face Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk in Warsaw in matchday two of the Champions League.
