End of an Era at Celtic as Hatate follows Maeda and Kyogo out the door
Whether it was through luck or not, Celtic certainly landed on their feet after Eddie Howe eventually knocked them back in May 2021 after many months of negotiations…
Celtic believed that the highly former Bournemouth manager was essentially a done deal with just some issues relating to Howe’s backroom team still to be ironed out. So there was no need for a plan B in place.
Then the bombshell news was dropped by Howe that he could not convince his colleagues to make the move to Glasgow so he would with great reluctance have to turn down the opportunity to manage Celtic.
Celtic had just endured an absolutely horrendous season when just about everything that could go wrong duly did so and now this! However Celtic’s luck was about to change, indeed they were about to hit the jackpot as Ange Postecoglou was about to enter the scene!
With no fans at the games because of the Covid pandemic the Celtic layers could never get into the groove and St Johnstone ended up as double cup winners with the Rangers running away with the Scottish Premiership title, their one and only league title success since the new club was formed back in 2012.
Celtic had won nine titles in a row prior to that season and after the Covid campaign have gone on to win the next five, including of course the most memorable of them all with that dramatic last day triumph over Hearts back in May, with the destination of the title changing in the final ten minutes of a dramatic encounter.
So when Eddie Howe said no the Celtic Board had a huge problem. The solution came from Mark Lawwell, son of the then Celtic CEO Peter Lawwell, who mentioned to his old man that while working for the City Group he was mightily impressed with the job that Ange Postecoglou was doing at Yokohama F. Marinos.
Lawwell Sr may have been forgiven for saying that he’d never heard of Postecoglou, although he probably had as Ange had taken Australia to the World Cup in Russia before taking the chance to manage in the J-League. But Ange was never in Celtic’s thoughts until that conversation between the father and son.
Duly impressed by his boy’s recommendation, Peter Lawwell hen spoke to Dermot Desmond, the biggest single shareholder in the club and a non-executive director.
Greece born Ange at that exact time was just getting over the disappointment of getting very close but ultimately missing out on the AEK Athens job, as he craved an opportunity to work in Europe, with his ultimate dream to make an impact in the Premier League.
He may have been forgiven for thinking ‘here we go again’ when he was contacted about having a Zoom call with Celtic CEO Peter Lawwell about the possibility of becoming the next Celtic manager. Ange didn’t have high expectations but the meeting went well and Lawwell ended by saying that he’d arrange a second conversation, this time with the ultimate decision maker at Celtic Dermot Desmond.
After that Ange told his wife Georgia that contrary to his own low expectations, he actually now believed that he was in with a chance of being appointed as Celtic manager. And it wasn’t long before he was on a plane flying to London where he would have to wait for a week in quarantine again due to the ongoing pandemic.
When he eventually reached Glasgow Ange made an immediate impact through his signings including Kyogo Furuhashi, a striker from J-League side Vissel Kobe, who the new Celtic manager knew would be a huge success at the club.
Plenty of other top signings arrived Carl Starfelt, Liel Abada, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Jota and others but Kyogo was perhaps the standout from that busy summer transfer window.
Going forward Postecoglou wasn’t finished using his extensive knowledge of the J-League. Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate duly arrived on day one of the January transfer window in 2022, with the pair arriving in the same window as Matt O’Riley.
This week Reo was the last of the three Japanese internationals to leave Celtic when he completed a move to Championship side Burnley in a deal initially worth £6.5m rising to around £9m if Burnley are promoted to the Premier League this season.
After Kyogo left to join France side Stade Rennais in a £10m move in January 2025 and Daizen Maeda, after accelerating Celtic to the title last season, joined newly promoted Ipswich Town in a £10m transfer in July to fulfil his own ambition to play in the English Premier League, it left only Hatate as the last of the three Japanese stars at the club.
All three had done so much to lift Celtic back to the top of Scottish football and to remain there ever since.
The stats tell their own story.
Kyogo made 165 appearances for Celtic, scoring 85 goals and won four Scottish Premiership titles, two Scottish Cups and three League Cups during his time wearing the Hoops.
Daizen Maeda meanwhile made 212 appearances, he scored 79 goals, won five Scottish Premiership titles, three Scottish Cups and two League Cups while playing for Celtic.
Reo Hatate in total played for Celtic 191 times, he scored 33 goals, won five titles, two Scottish Cups and three League Cups.
Celtic has tried to replicate these successes from the J-league without much success. Those three – Kyogo, Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate – all achieved so much at Celtic and leave with legendary status among the Celtic supporters. Celtic brought in almost £30m in transfer fees with a net profit of around £20m.
To say it’s an end of an era at Celtic with being the last of there three to leave is an understatement. And recognition and appreciation has to go to Ange Postecoglou, the man who made it all happen.
So yes Celtic did get lucky by somehow arriving at the decision to appoint Ange as Celtic manager in May 2021. Ange left Celtic after two seasons to fulfil his own Premier League ambition, and while at Tottenham he won the Europa League for the London club before they sacked him!
These days Ange is managing in Saudi Arabia at Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr with Christiano Ronaldo in his team. Just like the three Japanese lends he will always be welcomed back at Celtic Park.
