ANGE POSTECOGLOU’S remarkable Celtic transformation has made everyone take notice. The Greek-Australian boss walked into Celtic alone with a major rebuild on his hands but has since led the Parkhead side to the Premier Sports Cup, the cusp of a league triumph and a Scottish Cup semi-final.

It has been an impressive turnaround in fortunes for Celtic and according to Kenny Dalglish the Celtic board and Postecoglou have to take huge credit.

For the same reason, however, it may lead to clubs down south eyeing Postecoglou as a possible managerial target – but there’s no suggestion the Celtic boss would even be interested, says Dalglish.

“I don’t think a lot of people up here knew about him,” Dalglish said about Postecoglou who quickly became a favourite at Celtic. “It’s not just in England. In Scotland even Celtic fans never knew about him. “They would have had very little knowledge of what he had done.

“I think everyone has sat up and taken notice. And I think everyone will have taken notice of where he got his players.

“The board supported him brilliantly. Between the board of directors and Ange selection and ability to pick out players it’s been great teamwork from them behind the scenes.

“For them to support him after putting him in. They thought Eddie Howe was coming in, according to the rumours anyway. So, to get him (Postecoglou) in and how well it’s turned out maybe they think it was a bit of good fortune.

“The job he has done has raised his profile and the one who gets most benefit from that is Celtic.

“He’s done brilliantly. The club have been very patient with him as he got off to a bad start and they stood by him and supported him in going to Japan.

“If someone goes in and says they are going to Japan for three players, you think: What? Until you see them.”

It’s little wonder after Postecoglou’s start to life in Scotland that quickly he’d be viewed as a candidate to head down south if the opportunity arises. And while Dalglish has been majorly impressed by Postecoglou’s work at Celtic and isn’t surprised at early Premier League links – he isn’t convinced a move is a guaranteed to tempt him away in the future.

Asked if Postecoglou could move to the Premier League, Dalglish explained: “He’s at one of the biggest clubs here. If he’s got ambition to go to the Premier League, I don’t know.

“He’s certainly done brilliantly for Celtic and that’s the most important thing.

“The boy has come, he was getting the sack after two weeks, he was rubbish and all the rest of it. Now he’s God’s gift. And because he’s God’s gift, people want to move him on or say ‘should he get a better contract?’

“Give the guy a chance to breathe. He has done brilliantly. Everything else will follow.  Whatever is going to happen will happen.”

While Dalglish is unsure over whether a move down south is a future goal for Postecoglou, he admitted clubs would be wise to monitor the manager – even if he’s content at Celtic.

“I think they would be rude not to,” said Dalglish when asked if clubs could be looking at Postecoglou.

“He’s content. I don’t know what other clubs are (looking at Postecoglou) doing but if they are that’s an endorsement of the good job he’s done.”

Celtic are edging closer to claiming the Scottish Premiership title with a six-point gap over Rangers with just five matchdays left in the post-split calendar.

Should they succeed it’d bring Champions League group stage competition without any need for qualifiers. Dalglish reckons that’s a major boost for Celtic, not only financially, but also makes the club an attractive proposition for players and managers to stay, or join.

“It’s not a given but they are obviously favourites to win the league,” he said. “They’re straight into the Champions League section. Where is he going to go and get a job that will give him that? There are no jobs. They keep saying about respect for Scottish football. You can’t ask for respect and at the same time expect somebody that does well with Rangers or Celtic to move on if it’s not somewhere that’s going to be better or more satisfying. He might get all he wants here. That might be all he wants.”

In recent seasons Steven Gerrard and Brendan Rodgers have moved on to the Premier League from Rangers and Celtic respectively. However, Dalglish insists it won’t be a case of the first offer which could lure Postecoglou south – as he claimed Gerrard and Rodgers had other offers before eventually moving on.

He said: “I will tell you for a fact it wasn’t the first option either of them got. They had been rattled before, I would imagine. Both of them. But they moved on.

“The English Premier League is an attraction for managers in Scotland. But it’s less attractive if you’ve got a team in Scotland that is getting straight into the Champions League section.

“Everybody is different but it is an attraction for your team to be playing in the Champions League. All right, you will get a couple of bruisers because you are going to be in the fourth pot.  But you are still playing in it.

“If the club have finances to get players in, managers are looking for help with that.  That helps them.”

Kenny Dalglish was promoting exclusively live Premier Sports coverage of Celtic v Rangers this Sunday from 1pm Premier Sports is available on Sky, Virgin TV and the Premier Player from £9.99 per month, and on Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription.