Spot on- Chris Sutton backs up Moyes over Celtic claim

Chris Sutton is one of the few pundits with credibility in both Scotland and England.

He also has independence of thought, he isn’t programmed to follow the party line which is often that the world revolves around the EPL with Scottish football a Pub League where my Nan could score goals for fun with everything devalued.

Before Mark Warburton and Pedro Caixinha provided Sutton with acres of material he was highly critical of Ronny Deila.

Winning two Premiership titles didn’t fool Sutton, he was critical, he saw the flaws in Deila and wasn’t prepared to make any allowances for what was essentially a project manager.

After successive seasons in the Champions League the new Norwegian boss lost out to Maribor and Malmo, he continued in the job but the task eventually overwhelmed him. In success he also failed.

Sutton appreciated the massive job that Ange Postecoglou inherited two years ago, the former Celtic striker broke a friendship when he criticised the way that Neil Lennon handled the disastrous 2020/21 season. He knew what Lennon’s successor was inheriting.

The former Yokohama F Marinos boss walked in on a car crash, picking up the pieces he knew that before the transfer window closed he would be losing Odsonne Edouard, Kris Ajer, Olivier Ntcham and Ryan Christie.

He played Edouard and Christie at Ibrox just days before they were sold to Crystal Palace and Bournemouth. After seven matches in charge of Celtic Postecoglou had picked up 10 points, the pressure was on.

The turnaround was incredible. Through his conviction on how to play the game, imposing it on players and onto opponents Celtic went on a 33 match unbeaten run to win the SPFL Premiership title ahead of the Europa League finalists.

Postecoglou dealt with incredible pressure, harnessed it into a positive, using the incredible backing of the support to deliver success through attractive football.

The notion that he is about to deal with a level of pressure at Spurs that he has never known before is laughable. Davie Moyes knows it, Sutton knows it.

Spot on this from David Moyes 👇👇 https://t.co/TQ5YQp7BFk
— Chris Sutton (@chris_sutton73) July 17, 2023

After the failures of Antonio Conte, Jose Mourinho and Mauricio Pochettino, Spurs have probably selected the best equipped manager for the job although there isn’t anything to prepare someone for the dealings of Daniel Levy.

The game of poker going on over Harry Kane is typical of the Spurs CEO, casting a shadow over everything that Postecoglou is trying to do with a squad that was slaughtered by Conte as he prepared for his spring time exit.

Experiences from almost 30 years in management will be required by the former Celtic boss to steer Spurs through the transfer window while delivering results on the park.

After finishing in eighth place last season they will find Liverpool and Chelsea also looking to break into the top four after underperforming seasons.

There will be a curiosity in the English media over how the first Australian gets on managing in the EPL but not with the same intensity that Postecoglou faced at Celtic.

‘Experts’ ranging from Kris Boyd to Hugh Keevins had him written off within a couple of games in charge of Celtic.

Whatever happens at Spurs it’s nothing that Postecoglou hasn’t experienced before. Having handled Celtic in expert fashion Moyes and Sutton won’t be in any way surprised if the former Socceroos boss is the man to deliver a long awaited trophy to the least successful big club in the world.