‘We could have done with him over Caixinha!’
MacDonald insists old pal Postecoglou would come good with time at Celtic
JOHN MacDONALD, former Rangers forward from the late 1970s and early 1980s, may not be the most obvious port of call to get the lowdown on prospective new Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou. But it turns out that the 60-year-old has been closer to the Australian coach than perhaps anyone else in the Scottish game.
MacDonald and his family just so happen to have struck up a friendship with Postecoglou’s cousin many moons ago, and so it fell to MacDonald to show him around Scotland when he visited some years back, taking in tours of Ibrox and Celtic Park.
Postecoglou never forgot his kindness, and showed his thanks by getting tickets for MacDonald and his family when Australia came to Hampden for a friendly, so the former Ibrox star is torn on a return to Scotland for his old friend.
On the one hand, he would love to catch up with him and wants him to be successful, but on the other, he can’t quite come round to the idea of wishing Celtic well. He is certain Postecoglou would rattle a few cages at Celtic Park, and eventually get them going in the right direction once more after their disastrous campaign last season.
“He’s a colourful guy and he knows his football,” MacDonald said.
“He doesn’t suffer fools gladly and he’ll stick up for what he believes in. He seems to have done well with that outlook.
“Even Charlie Miller gives him a good reference now. When he was there with Craig Moore they ended up leaving Brisbane without giving him a chance. Charlie will say now that he should have given the guy a chance. He ended up doing a Stevie Gerrard and winning the league without losing a game.
“He will sort people out. He seems to be that kind of character. If you don’t want to play for him then you can go.
“The fans always seem to be happy with the way he gets their team playing football, and he has done really well.
“I’d love to see him again and come over and do well here too, as long as he’s only second best every time. I’d maybe give him the odd League Cup to keep him happy, or maybe the Glasgow Cup under-18s!”
MacDonald isn’t surprised to see the widespread scepticism that has greeted Celtic’s approach to Postecoglou from his own support, as he remembers well the same sort of cynicism from Rangers fans when the Ibrox club were linked with him four years ago.
“A lot of Celtic fans have jumped on that,” he said. “To be honest, we probably could have done with him then rather than Pedro Caixinha!
“People say he’s not a big enough name, but what really big names are going to come to Celtic? They will all be wanting a top job in England. Not that Celtic isn’t a big job, that’s a massive job up here.
“Everybody’s goal is to get into Europe and do well, and if you do well, you can then go on to one of the really big jobs.
“I think he’s been desperate for a challenge like that and to show what he can do. Good luck to him.”
The one key thing that Postecoglou needs according to MacDonald, and the one thing he isn’t sure he will get, is time.
He cites the patience that the Rangers board had with Steven Gerrard before he delivered silverware as an example of the rewards that can come by allowing a manager to acclimatise to the unique challenges of managing one half of Glasgow’s big two.
“He’s going to have to rebuild the club, because there are a lot of people leaving and loanees are going back to their clubs too,” he said.
“The ones they bought in last year barring David Turnbull and Mohamed Elyounoussi, who will be back at Southampton, didn’t really do it for them. So, Ange will have a lot to do and a short time to do it.
“It’s also not easy to get into the Scottish way. Players are in your face all the time and the parks are small.
“It took Gerrard three years to get that right, so he might struggle a wee bit in the first couple of years.
“The big question is whether he will be given that time, because you know what it is normally like at Celtic and Rangers, can the fans wait that long? Gerrard was a bigger name, so he got that patience.
“It seems to be that each team have these periods of domination, and although I want Ange to do well, hopefully it is Rangers’ turn to have that.”