Postecoglou won’t wade into saga over Goodwillie

ANGE POSTECOGLOU is concentrating on the challenge of taking on Raith Rovers on the pitch rather than the controversy that has followed Celtic’s Scottish Cup opponents off of it, but he has stressed the responsibility managers have to uphold the values of their football club.

The Celtic manager didn’t want to comment on the specifics around Rovers signing David Goodwillie, with the Kirkcaldy club performing a U-turn this week and saying they are now trying to reach an agreement to terminate the contract of the player, who was deemed a rapist in a civil case in 2017.

Rovers manager John McGlynn finally issued an apology to supporters this week, and Postecoglou says that he is acutely aware of how important that relationship is between the manager and supporters.

“It’s impossible for me to comment on it because I know if that was a club I was involved with, and it was going through a situation like that, I wouldn’t like other clubs or managers commenting on it,” Postecoglou said.

“Not because of any other reason other than you’d never have the full information. Each issue has to be dealt with by the people who have all the information.

“We’re preparing for Raith Rovers in a football sense. That’s where our focus lies and where my focus lies.

“You always feel that if you start thinking about things outside the football club, that’s going to distract my players as well. So, our focus is on expecting a tough challenge from them.

“It’s a cup game, we’ve already played them this season in a cup and it was a decent contest even though we won, and we are looking towards a similar type of contest at the weekend.

“I think we are all aware of that responsibility [managers have to uphold the values of their club]. I’ve spoken about it a lot of times that every time I speak and every decision I make, it’s not mine, it’s representative of this football club.

“So what I say and do is obviously going to be reflective in respect to the values of the club and its supporters.

“I think we all understand that and we all carry that.

“All football clubs and all people involved in football clubs these days know that you’ve always got to be very measured and understanding of everything you do.”