3 minute read
12/5/2022 | 07:15am
For the tenth time in 11 seasons, Celtic have done it, they are the Scottish Premiership winners and few can argue that the hoops don’t deserve it.
When Ange Postecoglou arrived in Glasgow, the Bhoys were in disarray. Their fiercest rivals had won the title and it looked as though a number of players would depart.
Indeed, as the likes of Ryan Christie, Odsonne Edouard and Kristoffer Ajer all headed for pastures new, the future looked rather bleak.
Yet, Postecoglou’s transfer policy and the way he’s crafted and fine-tuned players this season has been nothing short of sensational.
The rebuild had no right to be this quick but it’s a testament to his hard work at Lennoxtown. He is a Premiership title winner in his first campaign in Scotland and even if they could only muster a 1-1 draw with Dundee United on Wednesday evening, the performance of a certain Anthony Ralston typified the graft that some have put in under Postecoglou’s tutelage.
The full-back only played once in the league throughout the entirety of last season but despite the arrival of Josip Juranovic last summer, Ralston has become vital and is now rather surprisingly one of the most consistent figures at Parkhead.
This term, the Scot has featured on 27 occasions in the Premiership, scoring four times and registering eight assists, the last of which came at Tannadice on Wednesday.
It came from one of the defender’s seven crosses throughout the game as he put in a tantalizing ball for Giorgos Giakoumakis to fire home and seal yet another league title.
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Throughout the encounter, Ralston took a whopping 130 touches of the ball – the most of anyone on the pitch – and also amassed 87 accurate passes, the third most of any player on Wednesday.
The fact he was so involved is a credit to the confidence he’s taken on this term and as a result, he’s gone from a bit-part player to someone who will only become more important to Celtic as the years go on.
Described as a “ballet dancer” and “superman” by Dominik Diamond, he was also compared to one of the greatest passers of a football in modern football by the Celtic Way’s Tony Haggerty.
Writing in his post-match player ratings, the Celtic blogger said: “The right-back produced a sensational 60-yard Andrea Pirloesque diagonal cross-field pass to Forrest before blasting a left-foot shot over the bar in the opening exchanges. He marauded forward at will and had a lot of joy down the flank. It was no surprise when he stood up a brilliant cross from which Giakoumakis buried a header seven minutes after the interval.”
That typifies his all-action nature and also why he’s one of the manager’s greatest successes since penning terms at Paradise.
Ralston has gone from underused and underappreciated to one of the real heroes of their title success in 2022. What a story.
