With Ange Postecoglou, an attitude returned to Celtic that had arguably been missing for a couple of years.

It is an ethos which meant the opposition were allowed no rest. An ethos which meant foes faced an onslaught of relentless attack and would be punished for a single moment of hesitation at the back.

Postecoglou boiled it down to three words: we never stop.

It is the mentality that the 56-year-old has drilled into the Celtic squad since his very first training session at the club. Ultimately, it is an attitude that helped the Hoops bring the Scottish Premiership title and the League Cup back to Parkhead last season.

The determination to play until the very end gave the support memories that will last a lifetime in a title that was so important for the club following the previous year’s disaster.

Such a mantra is akin to that of many successful Celtic sides of old. The double winners of the 1987-88 centenary season, for instance.

“The way the manager wants the team to play is similar [to when we played],” Peter Grant, who played in that 1988 team told The Celtic Way. “They have to play with passion, commitment, with high tempo. We were always told to try and win games from the first whistle to the last no matter what.

“There were some examples of it last year, getting goals very late on as we did many times, especially when you go back to the double-winning year. Big points were won after the 90 minutes or at least very late in the match.”

The story of Celtic’s centenary season is one that rings familiar. As Billy McNeill came in, Graeme Souness’s Rangers had won the title the season before and key players in Danny McGrain, Davie Provan, Murdo MacLeod, Brian McClair, Mo Johnston and Alan McInally had left the club. Lots of new faces had to be brought in and it was a title that – considering the obstacles they had in front of them – Celtic really had no right to win.

But similar to last season, a flurry of late winners and a team prepared to give it all brought the double to Paradise.

Anthony Ralston’s 97th-minute header in Dingwall; Giorgios Giakoumakis’s late winner against Dundee to complete a hat-trick worthy of the number seven shirt; Jota’s goal at Pittodrie to end a lengthy drought of away wins; Liel Abada’s composed finish against Dundee United while the Hoops were down to 10 men – and the unforgettable scenes that followed.

For those of 2021-22, read the 1987-88 equivalents: Paul McStay’s low volley against Hearts to keep their unbeaten run intact; Joe Miller’s late winner at Tannadice on Boxing Day; Andy Walker’s chested goal against Rangers.

All are examples of the we don’t stop attitude in a squad that will live forever in Celtic folklore.

That mindset of giving everything for the jersey is one ingrained in today’s squad just as it was in the Centenary year despite the evolution of football in years gone by.

“There are different ways people impose their personality on the game,” Grant said. “You’ve got very good players – I worked with Callum [McGregor] at Scotland, seen him as a young player coming through, I saw him at Notts County when he went there as a young man, that said a lot about him too.

“Some people go away from Celtic, and it looks rosy elsewhere, and they don’t do particularly well. While Callum went and grabbed that opportunity with both hands. He did exceptionally well down there and it showed a wee bit of personality about him. I think people show it in different ways – passion, commitment, drive, determination.

Celtic Way:

“You’ve also got new boys coming in now and it’s entirely different [to when he played. Maeda isn’t a Celtic supporter, for instance, but chases lost causes and makes it very difficult for defenders. He gives everything in every time… they put their personality [into the game].”

Personality is certainly something the Centenary side had in abundance. Players like McStay, Murdo MacLeod, Tommy Burns, Roy Aitken and Grant himself allied no amount of talent to passion and commitment.

“Our days were slightly different,” Grant said of playing in midfield. “Now you’re more of an interceptor because you’re not allowed to do so much. In our particular day, you were winning tackles, setting the tempo for the game from the first whistle.”

Scoring 92 goals in the league last season, the most since the historic invincible treble season of 2016-17, it was a campaign that surprised none who had worked alongside or against Postecoglou before.

Out of the 92, 13 came in the final 10 minutes of a match. Additionally, each of these goals were in the opposition penalty area – rather than just a long-range screamer that comes off once in every 20 or 30 attempts. Goals, in other words, that were well worked and followed Postecoglou’s gameplan.

It wasn’t just up the opposition’s side of the pitch that the players dug deep. In the league, the Hoops conceded just one goal in the final 10 minutes of a match last season – John Souttar’s 89th-minute header in the opening game of the season against a Celtic side that feels a thousand miles away from the current one.

The we-don’t-stop mantra didn’t just mean that the manager wanted his sides to give it their all until the end. Postecoglou knows when teams are at their most vulnerable and makes sure that those moments of relaxation are punished.

Celtic Way: Celtic's Premiership goals from the 80th minute onwardsCeltic's Premiership goals from the 80th minute onwards

“One of Ange’s things was to try to score as quickly as possible from kick-off,” Australian international Ryan McGowan told The World Game recently. “So it didn’t matter if it was the first kick-off, after half-time or as soon as they score because there was some stat that said teams are most vulnerable when they’ve scored.

“There was one kick-off, we had video-analysis [on it] and he went mental because we took kick-off and passed it back – didn’t go forward. He went mental for about 25 minutes, just saying that our principles, what we want to be doing as a unit, are always to try to go forward no matter what.

“We won that game but he spent more time talking about that kind of principle than anything.”

Celtic also reaped the rewards of such intent. Kyogo Furuhashi’s equaliser just 11 seconds after Hibernian’s League Cup final opener came straight from kick-off and made sure the momentum stayed in the Hoops’ favour. It helped Postecoglou get his hands on a trophy just five months after joining.

The Australian has shown no signs of taking his foot off the accelerator ahead of his fabled second campaign with the £3.75million signing of Alexandro Bernabei, despite being a defender, one very much made to bolster his side’s attacking prowess.

The Centenary side, it must be said, found it difficult to maintain their winning formula into their next season. They finished third in the league and lifted only the Scottish Cup – but that's not a fate you could imagine for Postecoglou's charges.

“Things always move on,” Grant said. “Players, managers and coaches all pass through but the fans are always there.

“With Celtic you have to play well, you have to win… and you have to excite the fans. They are the most important people at the football club.”

Add Bernabei to Postecoglou’s permanent acquisitions of Jota, Maeda and Cameron Carter-Vickers and surely fan excitement is very much on the cards next season.