This was billed as the Sydney Super Cup. We all knew that wasn't strictly true; this is the Ange Postecoglou Homecoming Tour.

‘Big Ange’ had returned Down Under. He was back with his triumphant Celtic team, the Scottish champions.

The stunning Allianz Stadium – capacity 42,500 – was the venue for the Sydney Super Cup curtain-raiser. The Aussies were paying homage to one of their own, a manager whose star is shining as brightly as the vivid Sydney Lights in Darling Harbour, Sydney Bridge or Circular Quay.

It was also the time of the year for that damned nauseating Ange song. You know the one. That irritatingly and annoyingly catchy ditty made famous by Wham! Last Christmas…

Celtic were still not in holiday season mode though – even if the normal pattern of events had been disrupted significantly by holding the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar mid-season. It is to all intents and purposes a mid-season pre-season for the Hoops.

Postecoglou knows he is box office and a hot ticket right now. Just ask Brighton, Everton and Japan. They have all reportedly coveted Australia's highest-profile international football personality and recent Football Australia Hall of Fame inductee. Coveted but can't have at this juncture.

The Australian is happy with his life in Glasgow at Celtic. Perfectly happy. Eighteen months into his managerial tenure there remains much work to be done and more successes to be chalked up.

A second consecutive league title would certainly do for starters. To quote a passage from his book Changing the Game: "Winning is never enough. For me the pursuit of winning and trophies without attaching a meaning to what you're doing is like chasing the wind."

On the pitch Celtic did not win even though Kyogo Furuhashi had put the Hoops ahead three minutes before Robert Mak equalised. Max Burgess gave the hosts a lead on the hour mark which they never relinquished.

Postecoglou stood on the touchline, watching. He was watching everything. He might have had his hands in his pockets and arms folded all evening but he was scrutinising, studying, analysing.

It was, it seemed to me, old-school football management as he surveyed the scene of what had just unfolded.

He echoed the sentiment of his book after the match when he said in the press room: "We have standards and we have been really good at maintaining those. You can take these and put them to one side but I think everything has meaning and there is meaning to everything that you do."

Celtic Way:

In the same interview he refused to allow his players to use jet lag as any sort of excuse for their performance and defeat.

“It is always a disappointment irrespective of any loss,” Postecoglou added. “We set a standard and expectations and levels and if we fall below that then it is disappointing irrespective of the circumstances or what the environment is or what the competition is.

“I am not a violin player. We get on with it. They probably are tired, so what? The game was today not tomorrow.

“That's the way it is. We were not anywhere near the levels we needed to be at but that is part of the learning process for everyone. I understand it is not easy and it is a long trip, and you are getting off there and in any game of football there is always excuses if you want them.

“We have chosen not to do that in the past and that is what we'll do again."

Then again, this trip to Australia was never about ensuring a run-out for fringe players like Yosuke Ideguchi or Oliver Abildgaard, nor even promising youngsters like Scott Robertson, Rocco Vata and Bosun Lawal.

It was always ever going to be about one man: Ange Postecoglou.

It’s clear the love affair with the Celtic manager grows ever stronger on both sides of the pond. Like it or lump it, he is adored (although he can’t add the Stone Roses song to his Wham! one I’d wager, that’s still copyrighted to Odsonne Edouard at the time of writing).

Postecoglou, of course, wasn't having any of that kind of talk.

"I'm not here on a holiday,” he said. “I am here representing our football club and that's where my focus is. I’m not going to be getting a boat around the harbour tomorrow. I enjoy it when things go well, I don't enjoy it when they don't.”

He did, to his credit, cede a few minutes post-match to confirm his pride in being acknowledged by the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

“It is recognition of my journey in football,” he said. “And not just mine but for the people who set me off on my journey like my parents, my family, my kids and my friends and those who have been along for the whole journey.

“It is recognition for all their support of me. I have been fortunate to be a part of that for the past 35 years in Australian football. Hopefully the best is yet to come."

Perhaps a domestic Scottish treble?

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