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Postecoglou ready for "massive challenge" at Celtic but football comes first


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Ange Postecoglou will prioritise how his team plays football before targeting any goals for winning silverware with Celtic.

The Australian - who was working in Japan before being appointed as the successor to Neil Lennon - spoke at his first press conference on Friday afternoon.

The Hoops had a disastrous campaign last season as Rangers won the league to stop their Glasgow rivals' historic ten-in-a-row bid but the new boss refused to get caught up in any talk of winning silverware just yet.

"It is a massive challenge. But as a manager you always get opportunities where it’s a massive challenge. You don’t really walk into places where it’s running smoothly," said Postecoglou.

"It’s a process where you have to go through certain steps. If we play our football, we’ve got a decent chance of success.

"I'm not looking at gains we have to make from last year, I'm looking at the football we're going to play and if we get those fundamentals right and there's a method I have in doing that.

"It's a process that takes certain steps to go through. If we play our football then we'll have a good chance of success."

The 55-year-old Greek-Australian has no experience, as a player or a coach, in European football but had a lot of success as a club boss Down Under, winning top-flight titles with South Melbourne and Brisbane Roar.

He took Australia to the 2014 World Cup while he went on to win the AFC Asian Cup before resigning after the Socceroos qualified for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

He took over Japanese club Yokohama F. Marinos and led them to league title success in 2019, the first time the club won the title in 15 years and he believes that his experience in the Southern Hemisphere and Asia will be a good thing for the Hoops.

"What I bring is a different perspective. Most of my experience has been on the other side of the world and at international level," said Postecoglou.

"I bring here what I bring to every club that I’ve worked with – a clear idea of how I want to play and where that success comes from. I think one thing people will be in no doubt about is how this team plays its football.

"Every team I’ve coached has had a real clear identity in terms of that. I think that fits nicely with the traditions and expectations of this club, and I think that’s one of the reasons I was chosen. I think it’s important that we want to play football a certain way and in my 25 years I’ve played football a certain way."

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