PAUL Lambert has expressed confidence Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou will turn down the chance to move to major clubs in England or Europe in order to build on the success he has achieved at Parkhead to date.

Postecoglou, who won the Premier Sports Cup and cinch Premiership in his debut season in Scotland, was installed as one of the favourites to take over at Premier League side Brighton last week after Graham Potter left to join Chelsea.

Ex-Celtic midfielder Lambert, who has managed down south at Aston Villa, Ipswich Town, Norwich City and Stoke City, can understand why the Greek-Australian has been linked with the vacancy at the Amex Stadium.

However, the former Champions League winner believes the Celtic manager will be eager to do well in Europe’s premier club competition this season, retain the Scottish title and secure qualification for next term.

“I think that speculation will go hand in hand with Ange because of how well he is doing here,” he said at the launch of Mastermind, a new biography of Wim Jansen, at Parkhead. “I don’t know the ins and outs of it and if he has said anything.

“But if you are talking about size of clubs, they (Brighton) can’t compare with Celtic. There is no comparison. You can compare the leagues without a doubt.

“But the job he has got here is huge. He has got European football here and hopefully the club can go and continue getting Champions League, can continue getting points on the board, can continue qualifying.

“Because that will entice bigger and better players to come if they see the club getting Champions League football.”

Lambert added: “If Ange keeps doing well here then it will be up to him to make a decision if teams in England or in Europe come for him. But if he manages to maintain the success he’s had here he might not want to leave.

“Ange must have a wry smile on his face when you consider some of the stick he got when he first came in. I see some parallels with Wim. He lost his first few games and people were saying he had to go. Henrik (Larsson) got stick after giving the ball away a few times, but he turned out not bad either.

“People without much knowledge were criticising him, but Ange is not daft. I’ve met him at training and he’s a good guy with a great way about him. The fans are on totally on board with him.”

Celtic are five points clear of Rangers at the top of the Premiership table after thrashing the Ibrox club 4-0 at Parkhead nine days ago and Lambert fully expects clubs to come in for Postecgolou in the coming months.

But he said: “It’s better to be linked with jobs than having fans calling for your head. You’d rather be told you are doing great than folk saying there’s a car waiting for you out the front.

“I think he loves it here. You can go to another club and all of a sudden things don’t work and you are back to square one. At the moment he’s got everything rocking here. Keeping it going is easier said than done.”

 

Wim Jansen: Mastermind by Yoeri van den Busken with a preface by Mardo MacLeod is published by Edicola Publishing and is available to buy now.

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