The Herald on Sunday

Picture perfect

Postecoglo­u says he will be in cinema if Celtic win title today

- GRAEME McGARRY

ANGE POSTECOGLO­U says he does not care if Celtic seal the Premiershi­p title themselves against Dundee United on Wednesday or if they win it due to Rangers slipping up against Tam Courts’s men this afternoon, the important thing is that they have earned it.

The Celtic manager was beaming with pride as his team came from behind to thrash Hearts 4-1 yesterday, all but confirming them as league winners.

And as the party raged all around Celtic Park, Postecoglo­u was keen to stress that his players deserved all of the credit for the way they responded to adversity early in the campaign to win the title with games to spare.

“I’ll win it any old way mate, it doesn’t really bother me!” Postecoglo­u said. “For us, what’s important is that I think we’ve earned it this year, and that we continue to earn it.

“We’re not collapsing over the line, we’re strong, we’re committed to something. Our performanc­es and the challenges we’re overcoming are reflecting that.

“Any way it comes is fine, and more importantl­y, I think it’s fully deserved.

“There have been different challenges all the way along but every time they have responded in a way which * reflects the beliefs we have and the kind of football team we want to be.

“We have conceded to teams before and fought back – as happened at Ibrox – but we knew today was significan­t. You could sense there was a nervousnes­s, even around the stadium.

“But it’s always about how people deal with that. I never had any doubts, it didn’t worry me, but I’m sure people were looking to see how we’d respond. But this group finds a way to respond, while not veering away from the basic values and fundamenta­ls we have as a football team.

“I am sure they are proud of their own performanc­es and how they dealt with it.

“We are now looking forward to

Wednesday. I said to the boys before the game that there are many ways you can finish something off.

“You can collapse through the finishing tape or you can go through it at top speed. And that’s what we want to do. It’s what we’ve been going all year. We’ll go hard on Wednesday and get back here and go hard again in the last game.”

Postecoglo­u says he will not be taking in the Rangers match this afternoon, as he will be at the cinema with his family.

“As I’ve said before, my boys take charge,” he said. “There’s a new flick out called The Bad Guys, so that’s on the agenda tomorrow, so we’ll see how it goes.”

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