Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has insisted it “would have been ludicrous” to not bring forward the winter break, as the club prepare to welcome fans back to Paradise tomorrow.
The Scottish Premiership resumes on Monday night after ten of the 12 top-flight clubs voted to move two post-Christmas fixtures after a winter break.
This was due to the Scottish Government restricting large outdoor events to 500 spectators, effectively bringing behind-closed-doors football back to Celtic Park.
Those restrictions have now been lifted, meaning only one round of fixtures saw reduced crowds.
Predictably, petty clubs such as Rangers tried to ruin the situation by voting against the proposals, but the Celtic boss feels vindicated that the actions of the Bhoys and others were in the best interests of everybody.
As quoted by the official club website, he said: “It’s great for the game, there wouldn’t be a person involved in football who wouldn’t welcome that and I think it shows that clubs took the right course of action. And although we took the right course of action, we understood why the government had to do what it did at that time.
“But, as I said at the time, I thought it was quite logical with the natural break that our season has that other leagues don’t have, it would have been ludicrous to try and play through that without crowds.
“We gave ourselves at least an opportunity and the games are starting again and we’ve only really had one round without the fans in, and I think that’s a testament to the fact that I think everyone was looking at the greater good. And the greater good is that our supporters and clubs are hand-in-hand in making sure that games are played in full stadiums.”
Celtic have taken a fair bit of criticism from Rangers-leaning pundits for their stance on this all, but no one can argue it hasn’t worked out well for everyone.
With crowds packing into Celtic Park and Pittodrie over the next two nights, the unique selling point of Scottish football will be maintained – its passion.
Ange’s comments are spot on here, regardless of how inconvenient they are for some clubs.
In other news, Ange Postecoglou hits back at ‘lazy’ Celtic narrative; sends out class media warning.
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