Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has given his reaction to announced crowd restrictions over the next three weeks.
As we discussed earlier, the Scottish Government have declared crowds of just 500 will be able to attend football games from 26th December.
Asked for his thoughts in a press conference today [Sky Sports], Postecoglou said: “I don’t like football being played behind closed doors. I had a season of it in Japan and I just didn’t enjoy it. For me, it becomes a different game.
“It’s a different environment for the players. Of course, my preference is to play with supporters in there, even with a reduced capacity. As with all these things we have to follow the guidelines and the protocols in place and just get on with it.”
However, the Celtic boss was not prepared to discuss the potential reduced crowd situation against Rangers at the start of next month. He is solely focused on St Mirren and the next 24 hours as the Bhoys look to close the gap at the top of the table.
Already Sunday’s cup success feels like a lifetime ago as the team get back to work at Lennoxtown and prepare for the challenges ahead.
A massively restricted crowd number is just another of these challenges. At least in Postecoglou, we have a leader we can trust to guide us through another tricky period.
He can’t fix everything, but he’s the man to best mentally prepare this squad for a proper push at the Scottish Premiership title, with crowds in place or not.
In other news, SPFL considering moving winter break; Celtic derby game could be postponed.
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