Awkward, wasn’t it? Watching Ange Postecoglou plonked beside Michael Beale at yesterday’s League Cup Final Press conference was like seeing your mate sat a wedding beside their ex-girlfriend, the one who couldn’t stop talking about him for weeks after the acrimonious split.
The body language on that one said a thousand words, even if the two participants looked like they’d struggle to even exchange even a couple of throwaway comments for pleasantries sake, never mind smile and chat politely for the cameras.
Whoever thought that was a good idea needs to have a re-think to their media strategy as it simply backfired. And whilst the sponsor/broadcaster may be to blame for coming up with the idea, someone at Celtic must have been briefed about this, yet still thought it would be fine to carry on regardless. A word in that person’s shell-like would not be a bad idea this morning.
Mick Beale simply hasn’t stopped talking about Celtic since he arrived in Glasgow and not too much of it has been complimentary. And seeing that has been far from a secret, and has even elicited the odd response from Postecoglou, a man who rarely comments on such things, a separation of media duties may have been a wiser move, even if it was to stop the feelings of cringe that lifted the hairs on the back of our necks.
It was hard not to feel sympathy for Postecoglou sat beside the man who has tried to curry favour with his own rank and file by digging out his far more experienced rival, but to then – as petty as it sounds –have Beale talk to the assembled media first, also seemed a strange decision.
19th December 2021; Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland; Scottish League Cup final, Hibernian versus Celtic: Celtic Manager Angelos Postecoglou celebrates with the trophy
Are Celtic not the holders of this trophy, did Postecoglou not have to bring the League Cup from the Parkhead trophy room on the passenger seat of his club car, and does that not give him some level of seniority as to who gets to speak speaks first? I’d have thought so, but perhaps I’m reading too much into things, too paranoid perhaps!
Perhaps placing the two managers together, despite having what seems – from the outside looking in – very little in common, even verging on a dislike, was viewed as a way to attract attention, to drum up business for new Viaplay subscribers, like a pitiful prize fighter weigh-in.
It simply didn’t work.
And whilst there is very little that can be done now that it’s all done and dusted, lessons can be learned.
Ange Postecoglou gets enough nonsense to deal with in his pre-match media conferences every week, without someone coming up with fresh ideas to frustrate the hell out of him at the showpiece events.
The next time someone comes up with such an idea it may be a good plan for someone at Celtic to cut such thoughts off at the ‘we’ll be trying something different today’ stage.
People are paid by our club to ensure the Celtic manager and the club itself is portrayed in as good light as possible. If they had the slightest intuition for that job, the Celtic boss wouldn’t have been put in such a position at Hampden yesterday. Someone at Celtic really needs to scrutinise the table settings next time around.
Niall J
