Ange Postecoglou wasn’t entertaining any talk of the frenzied speculation linking him to the vacant Tottenham job at yesterday’s Media Conference ahead of the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden tomorrow afternoon against Inverness Caley Thistle.
Of course the Australian, who tomorrow can complete the treble and make it five trophies from six in his two years at Celtic, has been continually linked to English Premier League sides this season, they certainly seem to change their managers at increasing speed down there, do they not? Tottenham along with Newcastle United are the great underachievers in English top flight football but at least Eddie Howe has taken his side into the Champions League next season while Spurs finished eighth.
And tomorrow Ange Postecoglou could be hearing his name chanted for the last time in quite a while because the Spurs fans, who are busy campaigning against his appointment, are hardly likely to be borrowing the Celtic support’s songbook to acknowledge an appointment that they oppose.
We’ll have to get to the other side of the cup final to see what is going to happen here but while bookies yesterday stopped taking bets on Postecoglou becoming the next Spurs manager, it’s worth noting that there are two other viable candidates in the reckoning and if the fans views are to be considered one of them and not the Celtic manager will get the job offer.
On being quoted as the bookies favourite, or on any other Tottenham related question, Ange Postecoglou dealt with questions on the speculation in exactly the same way as before.
“Somebody else was favourite last week, wasn’t he? So, it doesn’t register. You are making it sound as if it’s the first time this has happened to me. We have done this dance a few times this year. The players are well aware of where my thoughts lie,” Ange said.
“The players have been really good at focusing on what’s important. What’s important is being ready for a big game on Saturday.
“I have handled it before and I’ll handle it the same way. It doesn’t enter my sphere of thinking because my role is to make sure the team is absolutely prepared for what the next challenge is. If a cup final isn’t enough to draw all my attention to that, then nothing will be,” the Celtic manager said.
“I get all the interest and why people love to speculate on these things. But we have worked really, really hard to get ourselves into this position and, for me to let my mind wander about anything else than getting our team prepared for a big day on Saturday, is just not who I am.”
And if he’s not planning on leaving Celtic this summer, or if Tottenham decide to look elsewhere, has he had talks with the Celtic board about a new contract, which is something many Celtic supporters can’t really understand why the has already happened, given the huge impact Ange Postecoglou has made at the club over the past two seasons. So does he have talks planned with board?
“No, because again that would mean me planning, organising, thinking about things other than Saturday. Look, I understand that’s your job to ask these questions because that’s the role you are in, but you are not invested in this football club like I am, like the players are, like our supporters are.
“I woke up this morning thinking about one thing, the same thing I have been thinking about for the last five days. I really want to make sure that we play well in this cup final and make it a truly special season.
“I know this football club has had a lot of success recently including Trebles but over the history of time there aren’t too many that can claim to that. Not just for myself but for some of these players, it might be the only one they get. So we need to focus on that.
“It’s a massive role to be manager of this football club and for me to be dismissive of potentially our biggest game of the year is just not going to happen.”
As we now know he does have talks planned for next week with Spurs. Is it possible he himself wasn’t keen on having a rolling contract as it would maybe hinder a possible exit. AJ says they’re nglued to Sky Sports ,so, the players are taking an interest. Not long to wait till it all unravels now.
Like everyone else, I think we have to concentrate on tomorrow, however much the media are trying to distract us and the players…but I think Ange would be a fool to even think about the mega-rich but grossly under-performing Tottenham Hotspur. Stay and have a go in Europe, Ange! And think about Brendan Rodgers and Martin O’Neill. Great Celtic managers but not so good down south!
And for tomorrow, remember Feyenoord, Partick Thistle and Raith Rovers! Don’t throw it all away now!
So a good win tomorrow, then a statement on Monday saying that Ange is staying!