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Ange Has Already Seen Enough Of The Press To Know How They Treat Celtic.

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There was a little moment after the match had wrapped up yesterday and a delighted Ange Postecoglou was being interviewed by Sky which showed him at his best.

A left-field question was presented to him about an “issue” between Abada and Edouard debating who should take the penalty; a barmy suggestion that there might be disharmony in our camp.

Ange laughed it off. “Oh you found one?” he said, with a smile on his face. “You’ve done well to find a blip today.”

He made a joke of it, but he was not joking.

How long has this guy been in the job? Long enough, anyway, to know what we’re dealing with here.

The deft way he handled it, you’d almost think he’d prepared the line.

And maybe he did, because at every stage in his dealings with the media he has snapped at that over one thing or another and he must have realised that something was coming.

I haven’t seen a Celtic manager this capable of handling the media since Martin O’Neill.

Strachan was good at the wise cracks but with O’Neill and Postecoglou there’s a real intelligence behind his reactions and good humour which belies the real venom there too.

He doesn’t hate them like Strachan did; even today, even as a supposed part of the media, Strachan differentiates between being an expert and being a pundit and he loathes anyone who hasn’t been where he has and seen and done what he’s seen.

It’s why Strachan dismisses all fan opinion as being essentially ignorant.

He treats the press the same way.

Ange understands that the press has a job to do, but whilst he doesn’t actively dislike them it would be strange, indeed, if he wasn’t developing a dismissive attitude towards them already.

That will harden into contempt long before this season is done.

He is starting to know, already, that these are not his friends or ours. Ange is a fast learner. This is one of the most important things he will come to know about the game here.

Yes, they will look for “blips” and negatives, even after we put in a performance such as the weekend. He can well imagine how they will come after him if it all starts to go wrong.

This is not because they are “doing their jobs”, or rather it is; some of them see Celtic baiting as the job.

Others see their role as destabilising us however they can.

Our manager is starting to understand that.

And he will not allow it.

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