Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou quietens yet another bizarre Scottish media storm

By John McGinley

March 11, 2023

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has insisted the thoughts and comments of other managers are “not relevant” to him or his squad after Robbie Neilson’s bizarre assertion teams usually need to suffer a “decapitation” to see a red card at Celtic Park.

As most Celtic fans know by now, Neilson isn’t against coming out with a bitter rant that looks to absolve himself of all responsibility for a terrible run of results in Glasgow.

And it seems Postecoglou both wasn’t interested in the comments of the Hearts manager nor getting into a debate over the tackle of Alexandro Bernabei itself, which sparked the odd media storm in the first place.

Ange Postecoglou refuses to bite on media bait

As quoted by The Herald, the Celtic boss said: “What did I make of it? Nothing, mate. I’ve said a few times, I don’t really care what other managers or other people say. It’s got no interest to me. Why would I be invested in what someone else thinks?

“Every manager has the right to analyse or sum up the game in the way they want. I won’t tell people what to say or what to think. But it doesn’t matter to me. What matters to me is how I see and analyse the game and the feedback I get from the players. That’s how we improve and get better. Other people’s opinions on the game are not relevant.”

Asked what he thought of the tackle itself, as well as Neilson potentially trying mind games Postecoglou continued: “When I analyse a game I look at what’s important and things I think matter to us. Someone making a tackle is not really at the forefront of my mind. Everyone knows we have VAR so if someone thinks someone has done something wrong then we find out.

“I don’t know how many games I’ve managed but I’ve never won one with a mind game. I don’t even know what mind games are. I don’t buy all that sort of stuff. The game of football has 11 players who start and a few more that come one and you try to win it that way – that’s it.”

That about puts this one to bed – as Postecoglou has managed to do with most ‘controversies’ since arriving in Scotland. There was simply nothing to see here and Neilson made himself look a bit daft, especially on the end of another Celtic Park defeat.

I suspect Hearts will be far more up for today’s Scottish Cup knockout clash on their own patch. Hopefully Celtic can again show how adept they are at rising above nonsense to churn out consistent domestic wins. And leave others whining in interviews.

In other news, Celtic team news: Maeda 50/50 as Ange Postecoglou provides squad update ahead of Hearts.