Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou came under immediate pressure following a rocky start to his tenure.
After being knocked out of the Champions League and falling to an opening day defeat to Hearts in the Scottish Premiership, Postecoglou was already feeling the heat after his appointment was met with trepidation amongst supporters and ex-Celtic players.
But all he needed was time and his attacking philosophy has since won over the Celtic faithful and taken the Scottish Premier League by storm.
The Bhoys’ 3-0 thrashing of bitter rivals Rangers at Parkhead on Thursday morning was ‘Angeball’ at its absolute best.
“We lost three of the first six games. In the Scottish Premiership, you can’t afford to drop too many,” Postecoglou told SEN Mornings.
“We knew for us to challenge, we had to be almost perfect since then and we have been. The players have been dealing with the fact that we’ve got to perform every week and overcome ever challenge in front of us.”
The early pressure didn’t faze Postecoglou despite the scepticism surrounding his managerial credentials.
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“I wasn’t (bothered) because it’s part of my history anyway,” he said.
“Everyone knows I’m Australian. Everywhere I’ve gone, there’s always a bit a question mark against me and what I do. I’ve had a lot of success.
“I think when I came here, people were kind of not really aware of just how much knowledge we have about football over here.
“I’ve said it from day one, my biggest mission was to get everyone to believe in me. Whatever ideas I had, whatever way I wanted it to work or do things would be meaningless unless people actually believed in me.
“They’ve been fantastic from the first to be fair – even though they probably had to Google me to find out who I am.”
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Having to make up 25 points on Rangers from last season, there were several comings and goings in the summer as Postecoglou shrewdly went about moulding his squad.
Postecoglou signed nine of the 11 players who started against Rangers.
The former Socceroos coach has also been forced to shuffle his pack throughout the season due to a spate of injuries to key players.
“It’s why I love doing what I do,” Postecoglou said.
“It’s just another challenge. Any manager or coach will tell you there’s always challenges, it’s why we’re here. The beauty of it is that along the way we haven’t made any excuses or allowances for ourselves.
“I knew that we had to sort of rebuild a team from scratch at the start of the year, but I knew I couldn’t take two or three years to do it, we had to have success this year.
“We’ve won the Cup, so within that I’ve just made sure that along the way we haven’t made any excuses. If we’ve had players missing, we’re still expecting to perform, and the players have embraced that culture and environment.”
Celtic’s convincing derby win moved them into top spot on the Scottish Premier League table with 14 games remaining.
Postecoglou was appointed Celtic manager on a 12-month rolling contract in June last year.