Ange Postecoglou's strong message to partying Celtic heroes after Rangers cup final

By John McGinley

February 27, 2023

Ange Postecoglou wants his Celtic squad to savour the satisfaction of beating Rangers in Sunday’s Scottish League Cup final but has reminded them they’ll be back at work at Lennoxtown in short order.

A double from Kyogo Furuhashi sent the Bhoys on their way to a 2-1 victory at Hampden yesterday, with the collective effort of the team ensuring there was no way back into the match for the Ibrox side.

The manager is happy to give his team the time to enjoy themselves in the wake of this achievement but wants full focus to return to the challenge of St Mirren on Sunday.

Celtic heroes given space to enjoy cup success

Asked by Chris Sutton about his dressing room’s mindset in the wake of victory, Postecoglou told Viaplay: “I think it is important you enjoy these moments, and I’ll let them enjoy it. Because you’re going to ask them to front up again on Tuesday.

“In the back of my mind, whatever’s happening tonight, I know we’ve got St Mirren next week which is not an easy trip. But if I start talking to them about that and they don’t enjoy this, they’re going to start questioning why they’re doing what they are doing. They work awfully hard for me every day, not just the players, but the staff. They need to appreciate and get the rewards and that’s about tonight.

“My instructions to them are always the same – enjoy your night, enjoy your success. Because come 24 hours’ time I’m going to ask you to go again. And if they don’t have that period of enjoyment then it’s hard for me to do it.

“They’re a good group, they’re really ambitious. We’ve still got a long way to go as a football club, we know we can improve. But winning things helps that improvement.”

From Postecoglou’s comments, it seems the squad were given the leeway of a well-earned day off today following yesterday’s match and no doubt there were some fun celebrations last night as a result.

One of the dressing room leaders, Greg Taylor, was asked about what was happening in a post-match interview but wouldn’t divulge the ‘secret’, preferring to keep their plans close to their chest. And rightly so. [Viaplay]

With the squad due back at Lennoxtown tomorrow, the hard work begins again and thankfully Postecoglou is there to steer them in the right direction. He won’t let them lose focus.

In other news, Ellie Dixon releases full version of Jota’s Celtic song to 1.4m followers and it’s going viral.