That's entertainment: How Ange Postecoglou's Celtic helped Tommy Burns disciple rediscover his football fervour

Yogi would know. After all, he famously played in Tommy Burns' Hoops team of the mid-1990s.

That team swashbuckled and entertained but never quite turned into serial winners in the face of Walter Smith's Rangers.

The shoe might be on the other foot in one way now - Postecoglou's Celtic are the recognised top dogs in Scotland - but Hughes insists in another way he is reminded of the Burns team he played in.

Both bosses, in short, make sure their teams play the Celtic way.

"Ange Postecoglou's style of football is the Celtic philosophy in a nutshell," Hughes told The Celtic Way. "The supporters are lapping it up. His philosophy is to get on the front foot and score goals and keep the ball into the bargain.

"There is a real emphasis on ball retention and keeping it and passing it. The Celtic players will be working on that every day on that training field. Repetition, repetition, repetition until they are sick of it but all the while it is becoming second nature. The demands those Celtic players will be putting on each other will be unbelievable.

"Tommy Burns's team was the same as Postecoglou's team. The players put what they had learned on the training pitch into practice and by the time they took to the field on a Saturday they were implementing it all.

"Even in the small-sided games at Tommy's training, the Celtic players were conditioned that you had to play football. [It was] one and two touches and the ball did not go above head height. I couldn't clip one over the top, I had to get the ball out of my feet and play.

"All that conditioning stuff stayed with me and it turns you into a proper footballer. There is not much difference between Ange's team and Tommy's team really. They both work the full-backs and everything is done with a purpose and an intention."

The former Falkirk, Hibernian and Caley Thistle manager is adamant that Postecoglou is cut from the same cloth as Burns even to the extent of the European stage. Neither adapted their style in the continental arena.

"I was up out of my seat cheering on big Ange when I saw his interview about how he would tackle European football," Hughes added. "He said he would play in the same way, I was jumping up and down and I screamed out 'Ya beauty!'

"Tommy did the exact same. Neither of them wanted to compromise or spoil their all-out attacking swashbuckling style for European competitions. Get in there. That's what football is all about.

"Ange's Celtic are in the Champions League on merit - they are going to have a right good go and they are enjoying it. This is Glasgow Celtic we are talking about. Ange, like Tommy, has decided that they are not going to play second fiddle to anybody. They will play their style of football. The Celtic fans demand that.

"It is really, really impressive and, when they are at it, it's a joy to watch. The way Ange's team is set up does leave them vulnerable to counter-attacking football but like Tommy's team the current side like to swashbuckle their way through games anyway.

"I remember we played a game away to Aberdeen at Pittodrie and we were losing 2-0, the TV cameras panned to Tommy and he had his hands held flat out and pushed them towards the deck as if to say 'calm down and keep doing what you are doing'. Celtic won the game 3-2.

"That is what I get from Ange. It is total entertainment. He will respect every team but every game is about Celtic, not the opposition. They are a massive club and they don't care about what others do - that is great for Scottish football to have a manager with such a refreshing approach and attitude like that."

Postecoglou has been well supported in his vision by the Celtic board and chief executive Michael Nicholson, who has green-lit a considerable recruitment drive in the last two windows in particular.

Nine signings arrived this summer alone - permanent deals for Cameron Carter-Vickers, Jota and Daizen Maeda were supplemented with Sead Haksabanovic, Oliver Abildgaard, Moritz Jenz, Benjamin Siegrist, Alexandro Bernabei and Aaron Mooy.

"Celtic have splashed the cash very well in terms of recruitment," said Hughes. "It has been excellent. You have to hand it to Ange Postecoglou for that reason alone.

"Scott Brown was a massive player in that Celtic dressing room. Lots of people asked how they were going to adapt and adjust without him and then what a coup it was for Celtic to get Ange in as the manager.

"You can see the style of play and what he has implemented in just over a year and that is after he lost three of his first seven games. What a turnaround and all credit to him for that, long may it continue.

"It is the only way I see football being played. Celtic are the best football team in Scotland. The way they knock about it is second to none. Rangers are a cracking football team too - however, at this moment in time, Celtic are the better of the two sides."

Hughes, for his part, says he owes Burns a massive debt of gratitude because it was the Hoops legend who turned him into a ball-playing centre-back and more than just a big, rugged stopper.

"I had to become a footballer to play in Tommy's team," he said. "When I played at the back Tom Boyd and Jackie McNamara would go on those mazy full-back runs and I was the centre-half who tried to shut the back door. I would shout to Peter Grant to give me extra protection but Boyd would shout 'deal with it!' 

"You learn to complement each other by playing as many games as possible together and the new guys who come in fit right into a system. That is similar to what Ange has done at Celtic now."

One question pops up from that though - could Hughes have held his own in Postecoglou's team as he did in Burns's?

"I remember I just used to give the ball to Paul McStay or Peter Grant or Boydy or Jackie Mac when I played for Celtic," laughs Hughes. "Occasionally I'd clip one into big Pierre Van Hooijdonk's feet. I'd probably give it to McGregor all the time if I played for this Celtic team. I'd practise that all the time."

"I cannot speak highly enough of Callum. I see players in the top teams in the English Premier League and they are no better than Callum. He is an absolutely fantastic footballer.

"He just gets it, pops it about, shows for it constantly, he takes it anywhere. He can play the sitting midfield role and if deployed further forward there are goals in him, He is like the quarterback and everything flows through him."

Hughes, who won the Scottish Cup as boss of Inverness in 2015, insists that Celtic under Postecoglou are simply the real deal and playing 'proper football'.

"I would pay good money to watch Ange's Celtic," he added. "This is the way football should be played - ask any supporter, any manager, or any coach.

"Celtic are going about their business in the proper manner under Ange. They are fantastically pleasing on the eye and there is an end product. I can see them playing it out from the back and sucking teams in. They enjoy playing through the lines and with no disrespect but the supporters aren't just shouting lump it forward as the fans are very educated and are extremely patient with the team because they know this group of players can pass the ball around for fun and play at a tempo and that is great to see.

"Everything is calculated and done with purpose - even the throw-ins. They are not just throwing aimless balls down the line for a flick-in as that is amateur stuff. They throw it in quickly, turn and get playing again and it is all done at speed and a high tempo. You have possession of the ball when you have a throw-in - so go and keep a hold of it then. Every Celtic player is involved and there are no passengers. They are never switched off."

How do they do it well and do it so often? Hughes reckons while it all comes from Postecoglou there will be a great deal of pride and self-regulation within the squad.

"The total belief in what they're doing stems from the manager and his philosophy," Hughes added. "Celtic do everything with purpose. Somebody always opens the door and the team gets in. This is proper, proper football. This is real football. A lot of that stuff is done in training and all the boys take that information on board as you are slowing it right down.

"I will guarantee you there is a huge element of self-policing by the players at training and if one session does not come up to scratch they will do it again and Ange won't have to say too much. The players themselves will probably say 'Hey, we are not here to fuck about so let's get this going' which is why tactically Celtic are always so spot on.

"Some players might move on to bigger and better than Celtic but there aren't many clubs out there that are so when they get that opportunity they have to make sure they conduct themselves in a proper manner and give it everything they have got - if they do that they will be in the team for weeks, months and maybe even years to come."

Postecoglou has lit a fire during his Paradise reign with Celtic thus far. It's the kind of fire that John 'Yogi' Hughes can feel in his belly.