Former Ibrox player Kevin Muscat has hailed Ange Postecoglou and the Celtic manager’s influence on his coaching career.
Muscat and Ange have worked together in Australia – the crash course he got from the Hoops gaffer convinced him coaching and managing was something he wanted to do.
Kevin has succeeded Ange as the manager of the Yokohama Marinos after the Australian left Japan to take on the monumental task in Glasgow.
Speaking to Fot Mob, the Marinos boss spoke about Ange’s influence and the enormity of expectation the manager has left in Japan.
“Having an opportunity to work with Ange and try to fit in so much during the 14-15 months together. Fitting in so much knowledge. That’s when it dawned on me – I knew I wanted to be a coach but then I was like, wow, this is what it takes.
“Ange took me out of comfort zone. It’s not really a test because Ange is focused on winning the game and everything needs to be right, but I found myself tested and out of my comfort zone. I had spoken to Victory two or three times prior to that about when opportunities were available to take over and I didn’t even entertain it.
“When Ange went to the national team, I had a conversation with him and that gave me a lot of belief in my own thoughts and coupled with how Ange goes about his style of play. I knew I was ready then. Fortunately enough, Ange was fairly influential in speaking to the club. The rest is history.”
Ange is well loved at Marinos and the setup there under the now Celtic boss is deemed to be of a very high standard. That’s why Muscat is building on what Ange has done to this point with the ambition of making his own history with the Japanese club.
“There were some challenges stepping in and following Ange because the perception is everything is set up ready to go and the reality is, it was and I’m comfortable admitting that,”
“Then it was finding a way to continue that on and improve.”
The Celtic manager’s track record is good. He’s shown a lot in a short time at Celtic. We’re not the finished article by any stretch of the imagination, but he’s steadily building a new Celtic.
Ange wants to leave a legacy at the club when all has been said and done. The groundwork is being installed, we should be excited for the future.
