Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic appointment not the reckless gamble it was once painted | Emma Kemp

The Australian’s arrival in Glasgow was greeted by some with scepticism but for others a title in his first year is hardly surprising

Some 26 years ago, back when the late Tommy Burns was manager of Celtic, a 20-something Ange Postecoglou was working as a bank teller in Melbourne’s CBD. He was in the middle of serving customers when he received a call from South Melbourne, the National Soccer League club with whom he had won titles as a player (including one under the tutelage of Ferenc Puskás) and was now assistant coach.

“They said, ‘look, you’ve got the job for the next three games just as a caretaker coach, and then we’ll make a decision for next year’,” Postecoglou told the late Shane Warne in December. “As soon as I put the phone down I quit the bank, I walked out. There was a queue of people waiting to get their money out. I said ‘that’s it, I’m just going to go for it’.”