ANGE Postecoglou has welcomed the appointment of Michael Nicholson as Celtic chief executive and predicted the lifelong supporter will be “fantastic” for the Parkhead club.

Nicholson took over from Dominic McKay on an interim basis back in September when the former Scottish Rugby chief operating officer stood down after little over two months.

The 45-year-old, who joined the Glasgow giants in 2013 and has previously worked as company secretary and director of legal and football affairs, was confirmed as McKay’s permanent replacement last week.

“I am delighted for Michael first of all,” said Postecoglou. “He’s worked for the club for a while and for his whole family it is obviously a massive role when you are the CEO of Celtic Football Club.

“From the moment I was appointed, I have worked very closely with him. I think there is a bit of synergy there with the way Michael thinks and the way that I think. So I am pleased to have him on board and I think he is going to be fantastic for the club.”

Postecoglou is hoping to strengthen his Celtic squad with several new signings during the January transfer window and believes former season ticket holder Nicholson will help him to land his targets in the coming weeks. 

He revealed the Scot has been heavily involved behind the scenes in the search for talented players who can boost the Glasgow club’s bid to land in the cinch Premiership in the second half of the 2021/22 season.  

Postecoglou added: “We’ve been working really hard on this window for quite a while. We knew it would be a crucial one and it is not an easy one, to be fair, the January window.

“It’s not one where you really want to do too much because there is sometimes a desperation around it in terms of the business.

“So we set our task early on that, irrespective of how the first half of the year went. We knew what targets we wanted, we knew what kind of players we wanted. And he has been the driving force behind it.

“As you can appreciate with the games we have had, I had to focus on making sure that we were competitive on the field. He’s taken the lead on that and he’s working awfully hard in the background to make sure we get what we need done.

“As long as our visions are aligned, things run a lot more smoothly. As I said, he’s worked awfully hard this last couple of months as we knew the January window was going to be important to make sure we get what we need done.”