The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
‘Special night’ lies ahead for Hoops
Ange Postecoglou hopes Celtic make it a “special” night for the Hoops fans when they face Dundee United in a potential titleclincher at Tannadice.
With two cinch Premiership fixtures remaining, Celtic are six points ahead of Rangers with a goal difference superior by 20 which in reality makes the title Parkhead-bound.
Celtic finished 25 points behind their Old Firm rivals in the league race last season before the Australian took over in the summer and now the title is almost in his grasp at the first time of asking, with the champions-elect preparing for the trip to Tayside tonight.
Postecoglou said: “We have an opportunity to make it a special night for the club and our supporters. I am sure they will enjoy it.
“This year everyone has put in maximum effort including our supporters.
“Everything they had pent up from last year they have released this year in a positive way.
“Our role now is to make sure we continue our good form and take the opportunity to make it a special night.”
n Postecoglou believes the fallout from the Scottish Football Writers’ Association’s annual awards dinner on Sunday should act as “a teaching moment”.
The SFWA apologised after an after-dinner speaker made offensive jokes that led to guests including sports broadcaster Eilidh Barbour walking out.
Barbour declared she had “never felt so unwelcome” in her industry while another guest revealed she had walked out following “sexist and racist jokes”.
The SFWA promised a review of the event, which was attended by award winners including
Postecoglou – manager of the year – Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon and former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who received a lifetime achievement award.
Postecoglou said: “It is fair to say, I guess, that the content was probably not appropriate. To be honest I don’t even know if it is appropriate at anything, with the way you need to understand about the way people feel about these things.
“The key thing about that is, you can turn it into a controversy but I don’t think people learn from that.
“Make it a teaching moment to be better, for the people who have the responsibility of organising those nights, an opportunity to do things a bit better, a lot better and understand that the people in that room – you have to take into account their own beliefs and feelings.
“But aside from that, the organisers have approached it the right way. They have apologised for it but it is just an opportunity to be better the next time, rather than make it a controversy.
“I don’t think you end up learning anything from that, be better and respect people’s views.”
Asked if he felt there was much work to do in the game in Scotland to make everyone, particularly women, more welcome, Postecoglou said: “There are lessons here for everyone.
“If people make mistakes along the way, it is a teaching moment for all of us, whether that is in an industry we are directly involved in, in this situation football, or if you are a football writer.
“It is an opportunity to be better, but that goes for everyone, even if you aren’t involved in that moment, to understand that it is a really important part of society today.”