Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou’s pre-Raith Rovers press conference was always going to contain questions about the recent controversy that engulfed the Fife club.
Raith made headlines around the world for their decision to sign David Goodwillie, with the subsequent fall-out seeing them lose famous supporters, sponsorship and a women’s team. It ultimately forced them into a U-turn on their decision to include him in the squad. [Daily Record]
Celtic play them this weekend in that context and it seemed inevitable it would be brought up in today’s media event, although Postecoglou deftly handled the subject.
For starters, he didn’t go into details, nor offer judgement on the situation. Postecoglou is not the man to do that. However, he did acknowledge that football clubs have to make decisions in the best interest of their fans.
Postecoglou said [Celtic YouTube]: “Without talking specifically about that because we’re all sort of working on limited information, I think just as a manager, as a football club, as anyone associated with an organisation like ours, you have to be mindful of every decision you make – how it impacts on supporters, society and the community in general.
“That’s why it’s always good that when making big decisions you are hopefully in a room with a various range of thoughts and processes of other people so that hopefully everyone can give context to any decision made.
“I’m always mindful of that every time I speak. What I say doesn’t just represent me but this football club. We all understand our responsibilities with that.”
BBC Scotland did want to revisit the subject later in the press conference, despite Postecoglou making it clear he didn’t want to talk about Raith Rovers specifically. He was asked whether the controversy could impact the Raith players at Celtic Park.
Postecoglou replied: “I’m hesitant to talk about that situation because if it was my football club I wouldn’t want other managers talking about my situation. For me to say how it’s going to affect them, or otherwise, I think is not right.
“What we’re expecting is that they’re going to come and give us a tough challenge. They see it as an opportunity to knock off one of the big clubs in the competition and we’ve got to be ready to face that.
“From our perspective, it’s preparing for an opponent in a football sense. All these other things that happen at all clubs, if you fall into the trap of thinking it will affect on-field performance, you’re dismissing and disrespecting what they can bring. We always prepare the same way.”
So, business as usual for Celtic despite the media scrutiny. The Bhoys can’t get involved in the business of other clubs and we can only focus on ourselves.
Ange and the team will be doing just that this weekend.
In other news, Chris Sutton ridicules Celtic vs Aberdeen decision analysis from his own paper.
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