'We told you so'  - How Ange Postecoglou's Celtic success is viewed in Japan and Australia

The Aussie hasn't stopped making waves at Celtic since he came through the famous glass doors in June to succeed Neil Lennon as the manager.

The most successful football coach in Australia was a lesser known light in Europe.

Not anymore. Postecoglou's star is most certainly on the rise.

Six months on and the Greek-born Aussie is well on his way to ascertaining legendary managerial status at Celtic.

The 56-year-old delivered the first trophy of the season in the shape of the League Cup six days before Christmas.

He is still in Europe beyond the new year having guided Celtic to the last 32 of the Europa Conference League.

The men from Glasgow's east end currently trail league leaders and defending champions Rangers by six points in the Scottish Premiership title race but that is by no means insurmountable.

Postecoglou has made an incredible impact at Celtic in a short period of time.

The Celtic Way's Tony Haggerty spoke to three of the most influential journalist and podcasters from Japan and Australia in order to gauge how Postecoglou's quick-fire success in Glasgow has been viewed across the other side of the world.

First up was Dan Orlowitz. A staff writer for the Japan Times, Orlowitz insists that Postecoglou is well on his way to being revered and mentioned in the same breath as former J League managerial legends Dragan Stojkovic and Arsene Wenger.

He joked that with the recent influx of Japanese imports from the J1 League - Daizen Maeda, Yosuke Ideguchi and Reo Hetate - Celtic might need to start playing the Japanese national anthem before kick-off in every home match.

READ MORE: Daizen Maeda & Reo Hatate Celtic debut date revealed as duo removed from Japan squad

Orlowitz insists that the whole of Japan could not be prouder for Postecoglou, who is viewed as an adopted son. His success is their success. 

Not bad for a manager who was tipped to head for the exits by December.

Orlowitz said: "We are all happy and delighted that Ange has been an instant success at Celtic.

"We are all doing a victory lap on this one.

"I have a t-shirt bearing the message 'We Told You So' ready to go.

"It's massive news in both Japan and Australia to have Ange be as successful as he is at Celtic.

"We said back in June that it would take time and he is still working things out.

"A lot of people said he would be sacked by Christmas yet Celtic won the League Cup six days before the big day.

"In Japan, everybody is delighted to him succeed.

"They are also particularly happy that a large part of that success has come with Kyogo Furuhashi by his side.

"That is incredible validation for the J League and the level of player and coaches that we now have in Japan.

"For those of us who have followed the J League and write about it and blog about it we are as proud as anything of Ange.

"We have a certain attachment to foreign players and coaches because we all understand the struggle of coming to Japan and dealing with the culture of the J-League which is a different culture to English or Scottish football.

"We support our guys. Ange is big news and box office in Japan and he is one of us.

"We are incredibly proud of the work he has done to get to this point.

"We all knew that Ange was bound for bigger and better things in his managerial career.

"We are proud of the fact that Ange has put the J League on the football map with his success with Celtic and the fact that he has signed some of its top players.

"Some 50 Japanese players are getting minutes at clubs in Europe but nobody is doing it like the Japanese contingent at Celtic.

"The press coverage and the limelight that the Japanese players are getting at Celtic and will get is unrivalled.

"The four Japanese players are firmly in the spotlight with Celtic now and the spin-off is that it has raised the profile of the J League.

"For four Japanese players to be at one of the most famous clubs in the world like Celtic is huge for Japanese football.

"This isn't about commercialism either or selling shirts "That is a bonus.

"Celtic can do what they want with the Japanese market and if they are clever they can print money here.

"This is first and foremost a football decision.

"Ange is concerned mostly with the fact that he has brought four excellent players from Japan to Celtic.

"He wants these players because they can play and for their football ability alone.

"Ange is now one of the most successful coaches to have coached in Japan and then gone out into Europe and succeeded.

"In the last 20 years, the J League have had two great managers in the shape of Dragan Stojkovic and Arsene Wenger.

"Stojkovic and Wenger are lauded as heroes.

"Stojkovic won the J League and the Japanese Cup with Nagoya Grampus and has just guided Serbia to the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar.

"Wenger is regarded as a managerial legend in the Far East.

"Wenger was a manager in Japan for a couple of seasons but he is still revered as a J League manager by winning the Emperor's Cup and the Japanese Super Cup.

"Wenger is seen in Japan as one of us and he went on to achieve phenomenal success with such a prestigious European club like Arsenal.

"Nagoya Grampus Eight, where Wenger coached, are still incredibly proud of him.

"It is the same with Yokahama F Marinos with Ange. He redefined that club on the football side.

"It may be a bit too early to bolt Ange Postecoglou's name alongside the other two J League managerial legends like Wenger and Stojkovic just yet but if he continues in the same successful vein with Celtic then that is the level we are talking about and the highly esteemed company he will be mentioned in.

"Ange's success is Yokohama F Marinos' success and that's the way they see it.

"We understood the scepticism when Ange took over at a club like Celtic.

"We feel that the Asian League and the Asian players do not get the recognition that they fully deserve.

"Ange's success goes a long way to changing that mindset, narrative and perspective.

"It won't come overnight. Ange certainly needs to deliver more than a League Cup for Celtic.

"While everybody saw Daizen Maeda's transfer coming to Celtic a mile off nobody could have predicted Kyogo moving to the club.

"Kyogo signing for Celtic will turn out to be one of the best pieces of transfer business that the club has conducted in the last decade but there was no speculation about it at all.

READ MORE: Is Celtic striker Kyogo's League Cup final stunner the sporting highlight of 2021?

"Maeda was a top player in the J League and it was a given that Ange would sign him.

"He is bringing players to fit into a system... his system.

"I saw Maeda in a Celtic shirt and he looks as if he was born to wear that kit.

"Maeda is going to have so much fun at the club and the Celtic supporters will love cheering this guy on.

"There is jealousy in Japan that Celtic are getting the J League all-stars.

"They will have to play the Japanese anthem before kick-off at Celtic games soon enough.

"It is the shortest national anthem in the world it is absolutely brilliant.

"What is clear that the turnaround from the summer from this unknown guy from the J League coming into Celtic in the summer to signing four of the best players from the J League in January is quite astonishing.

"The Celtic board have quickly realised that this is their guy and he is not going to succeed if they don't back him.

"Celtic will either succeed or fail on his own merit and playing Ange's philosophy and style and doing what he wants to do.

"The sooner everybody understands that about Ange the smoother everything will be.

"It speaks volumes of how high Ange regards the Japanese game that he raided the J League for talent and not the A League in Australia.

"That is not a slight on my Australian football colleagues as he did not go to the A League and sign Melbourne Victory players or whatever.

"Ange has gone to the league where he thought he could get the best quality players and that was Japan.

"He will win or lose on his own merits and he will bring players into the club to play his style. That is just the way Ange works.

"Ange will reward the Celtic fans patience. Trust the process."

Renowned Sydney Morning Herald sports reporter Vince Rugari insists that Postecoglou's arrival from the Far East to Glasgow east end has been akin to an evangelical experience for the Celtic supporters.

Rugari reckons that in just six short but successful months Postecoglou has blown away the pre-conceived notion that Australian coaches cannot hack it in Europe, He revealed that the 56-year-old is now a flag flyer for more Australian football managers to tread the same path.

He believes that Postecoglou has eroded the Australian stereotype and helped them shed their own inferiority complex when it comes to football management.

Such is the beaming national pride in him that Rugari joked that AFL coaches and legendary sporting figures like world-famous Australian cricketer Shane Warne are now hitching a ride on the Postecoglou wagon.

Rugari admitted that the Celtic boss always had the self-belief that he could match or even surpass some of the more well-known and experienced coaches in European football.

Rugari said: "We don't deserve credit for telling people Ange would be successful as it is a bit like tipping the sun to rise tomorrow morning.

"We have known all about Ange for many years.

"The hardest part was getting everybody else to get past the instinctive notions about Aussies in football and we understood that too.

"Australia turns up their nose at other nations in other sports so why wouldn't people be sceptical of Ange?

"Once people got over that hurdle we knew that everybody would see Ange for what he is and what he brings to the table.

"The reaction back home to Ange's success is awesome.

"We have not had this feeling for a while especially in football.

"We had it when Craig Johnston did his thing at Liverpool and then Harry Kewell was doing it with Leeds and Liverpool and Mark Viduka with Celtic and Leeds as well as Tim Cahill at Everton.

"We've had players who played for Celtic and Rangers over the years.

"I think you've also got to understand the enormity of the job that Ange has taken on.

"It is one of the biggest jobs in British and world football.

"Wherever Scotland sits in the global football pecking order the Celtic job is still massive.

"There is a lot of national pride, there is also hige pride in Ange being who he is.

"Ange is now flying the flag for us.

"He will hopefully open doors for Australian coaches to move to Europe and ply their trade. Ange is now the torchbearer.

"What is true is that our best coaches are on a par with other nations' best guys.

"Australian football coaches and managers are not going to reinvent the wheel but, like Ange, many of them deserve a crack.

"We have spent so long working on our inferiority complex when it comes to football.

"There is one Ange quote that I come back to often that Ange said when he was at Yokohama and he was trying to find a job in Europe.

"He said something like that: 'I've been over to Europe and I have met some of the so-called biggest and best managers in the world and let me tell you I did not come away impressed.'

"We tend to build European football coaches up in Australia far more than we should.

"It seems like a faraway world and we get up at crazy times to watch teams play but it is the same size pitch, the same number of players, and the same game that we all play and we forget that far too often here.

"That's why we are loving it because Ange is saying that to the world that he can do the same job on our behalf and he is knocking down those barriers.

"He has knocked down the Scottish barrier by winning his first trophy.

"Hopefully he can do that in Europe by doing well in the Europa Conference League and taking Celtic into the Champions League.

READ MORE: Celtic history lesson suggests they can win the Europa Conference League - Tony Haggerty

"He is not just doing it for Australia but he is doing it for Asia overall.

"Japan as much as Australia is involved in this and by default, the whole of Asia have now sat up and taken notice of Ange and what he is achieving at Celtic.

"Ange being successful is good for everybody.

"Legendary sporting figures are queuing up now to be seen to be friends of Ange.

"I have seen Shane Warne big Ange up recently and there are coaches in the AFL who are namedropping Ange at media conferences every chance they get.

READ MORE: Ange Postecoglou gushes over YNWA at Celtic Park as he reveals pre-match ritual

"When you see people wanting to be part of that then that's when you know you are making waves.

"Ange is an obsessive as he loves the game so much.

"There are not many football managers you can say that about.

"He's a football fan and he gets the football in the same way that a supporter gets it and that is so rare.

"His judgement is too good and whilst it was a possibility that he was setting himself up for a fall at Celtic, I don't think Ange would have put himself in a situation that he could bite off more than he could chew.

"He would never have taken the Celtic job if he did not think he could do it.

"I am nothing but effusive about Ange because it is all true.

"Soon it will be you guys who will tell the rest of Europe how good Ange really is.

"People will scoff and say of course he can win things in Scottish football but it will be your turn soon to go through the same as what we did when Ange was developing as a manager and we were telling everyone that he was the real deal.

"It's going to be great as we will all be on the same page soon enough.

"If you put yourself in Ange's shoes and weigh up what was the best league for him to go to in Europe.

"Scotland was an interesting one because of the two team nature of the league.

"It is not a normal league and for him to take that job Ange realises that the big opportunity is not necessarily in Scotland but it is in Europe which Celtic will get access to in whatever competition they qualify for.

"He has made the assessment that Celtic is still a big enough club for him to play his football well enough at the highest level in Europe whilst being at one of the biggest clubs.

"Ange would have reckoned I could do that.

"If he wins the league with Celtic then that will be really exciting as the question would then be what will Ange do in the Champions League?

"I hope nobody asks him if he is going to do anything different or change his approach against Barcelona in the Camp Nou?

"As soon as something clicks in your mind and you come to understand Ange and he gets under your skin it's almost evangelical.

"That is why we all sound the way we do about Ange as that is just how it works with him.

"You spend a few months wondering if this guy is absolutely insane and then he does a few things and he proves to you that he's not and then when it all falls into place it just hits you like a thunderbolt.

"There has been an awakening at Celtic since Ange came in the door.

"It was always a pleasure being in Ange's company talking football as he always gave you his take on bigger picture stuff and it wasn't just a job to him as he is genuinely there to make a difference.

"The reason why we are so proud of Ange is not because of who he is and what he does as that is more than enough on its own.

"It is because Ange is fighting the fight for Australian football against the stereotypes.

"That is the fight we have with ourselves so often in our own heads, in our own game and the way we manage our affairs in Australia and that has always been the tension.

"Now we have someone who is actually out there fighting and he's winning.

"As an Australian that feels really good."

Finally, Melbourne Victory and Celtic supporter Jarrod Hill, who set up the podcast Celtic Down Under, believes the Hoops have recruited a hybrid manager in the Tommy Burns/Alex Ferguson mould.

READ MORE: Billy Stark remembers his 'old pal' as Celtic legend Tommy Burns' story takes to the stage

Hill has charted the rise and rise of Postecoglou's managerial career since 1996.

He is not in the least bit surprised that the Aussie has taken the Scottish game by storm.

Hill revealed that while Postecoglou has flown thousands of miles across the world to work with the backroom staff that he has been given at Celtic that could all change in the second season.

With the whole of Australia seemingly behind him, Hill believes that Postecoglou having got to know the lie of the land in Scotland will fully utilise his nations world-leading expertise in areas such as sports science, physiotherapy and analytics in the months to come.

Hill said: "Ange has been a success everywhere he has gone as a manager.

"I did think he would be successful at Celtic but it wasn't without reservation.

"He took over my local club Melbourne Victory and he did a rebuild job there too.

"I've seen him in the manager's chair and I knew that he could do the Celtic job.

"I didn't think the Celtic board would look outside of Europe for a managerial candidate.

"I wasn't sure if Ange had been set up for a fall especially after losing to Midtjylland in the Champions League but he has turned things around so quickly.

"The way he deals with the media reminds me of Tommy Burns but he also has the same fire in the belly as Sir Alex Ferguson.

"I think he is a combination of the two.

"He doesn't take any crap just like Sir Alex Ferguson never did in his managerial career but at the same time, he is totally relatable like Tommy Burns.

"We've always known that if anybody was going to break that glass ceiling of Aussie managers succeeding in Europe it would be Ange Postecoglou or Tony Popovic.

"Popovic is the only Australian to win the AFC Champions League with Western Sydney Wanderers.

"I'm glad it's Angewho has put the A-League and the J-League on the map and I'm even more delighted that he is succeeding with the club that I support.

"It is great to see.

"Various Australian players have shown that they can be a success at European clubs down the years.

"We had Craig Johnston who was the trailblazer in the 1980s with Liverpool and then we had the likes of Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill in the 1990s and the noughties.

"It has never been the same for Australian coaches or managers as they have struggled and never really made the breakthrough until now.

"Australian coaches have always had the talent and it is starting to build now with the help of a successful coach like Ange.

"If people read Ange's book they will learn a lot.

"Most people were covering from a position of ignorance on Ange and knew little of his achievements "He has certainly shut the doubters up now and proved them wrong.

"The whole of Australia is right behind Ange.

"Shane Warne is a real Ange fan and I have seen his kids wearing Celtic tops on Twitter in support of Ange.

"It's unreal the impact Ange has had back here in Australia.

"Ange has caught the imagination and there is a real groundswell as everybody in Australia is just so proud of him.

"It is all the more remarkable considering what Ange inherited at the club and that he has won a trophy for Celtic within six months.

"There is a real satisfaction for those who love the A-League and football in Australia that Ange is doing so well at Celtic because a lot of Australians warned everybody and we told people that he would be successful.

"Ange is certainly proving us all right.

"I'm not surprised to see him raid the J-League for players rather than the A-League.

"If he comes to Australia for anything it will be more support staff - physios, sports science and analytics people.

"That is where the Australian sporting environment is more cutting edge and we are world-leading in that field.

"I can understand Ange not bringing in his own assistants.

"The interesting thing about Ange is that he usually makes coaching staff changes in the second year.

"His first year is all about experiencing the lay of the land and getting to know the league alongside guys that know it.

"It is usually in his second year that Ange will make the necessary moves and changes to the backroom staff if he sees fit."