With all the talk of Tottenham Hotspur and whether Ange Postecoglou will be Celtic manager for much longer, you'd be forgiven for forgetting there's big game this weekend.
Celtic are on the brink of history. A win would secure a record eighth domestic Treble for the club, which would be a world record. A clean sweep would mean Postecoglou has won five of the six trophies available to him in Scotland since arriving on the back of a failed pursuit of Eddie Howe two years ago. He was being written off after an opening day defeat to newly promoted Hearts at Tynecastle, but has well and truly turned the table to the extent that a mega move could be in the offing if reports from south of the border are accurate.
If that's the case, then Postecoglou's poker face isn't cracking. He's adamant that the only thing on his and his players' minds is getting the job done against Inverness CT at Hampden on Saturday. It may well be a swansong - after all, money talks when opportunity knocks.
But it will be a sweet one if the expected victory for the Hoops is delivered. The boss met the media two days out and here's every word he said as he looked ahead to a showpiece finale.
Squad update
“Kyogo is progressing although he hasn't trained yet so the plan is to try and get him out there tomorrow and see how he goes. He’s done some individual stuff this afternoon and progressed. He always is, but he’s pretty bullish about playing. Johnston’s fine, he’s trained all week and Haksabanovic is back in. So the only real absences are Aaron Mooy, who’ll miss out and I think that's it.”
Risk level with Kyogo - 50/60 per cent?
"It’ll be guided by him but we’ve done that in the past a couple of times, whether it's been a shoulder or last year’s League Cup final, he went in with a hamstring that wasn't totally healed and he scored a couple of goals.
"He’s very strong mentally so if he gives us the green light, we’ll put him in there.”
How excited by Treble chance?
“We’re looking forward to it. Last year it was the one trophy that escaped us. Just the whole day, the occasion, it's the last game on the calendar for us and just to be a part of it is the first thing we’re excited about. You want to win any trophy but making it a Treble would make it a truly special season.
"The players have been outstanding, the focus of each game being the most important and that’s what’s got us to this place. After we won the league a few weeks back, it would be very easy for them to let their minds wander but last week they were back focused and ready to go.”
Envisage this would be possible in two years?
“It’s not the way I’m wired. I didn’t project that this is where I want us to be. I've said consistently that coming off a trophyless season (after he arrived) I knew we had to bring success pretty quickly. It’s fair to say I didn’t walk in with too much fanfare but irrespective of that, when you’re managing this football club, there’s an expectation that you have success.
"We won the League Cup three of four months into my tenure so if I put limits that we have to win at least a trophy then we’d have done that in my first four months so rather than that, I just said we have to be the best football team we can, keep improving and keep pushing.
“We went through a trophyless season but we were also up against a team in Rangers that had finished 25 points ahead of us, made a Europa League final last year and won the Scottish Cup, so it wasn’t just a case of us getting back on track. We had somebody to catch as well so in the context of that, the progress that we’ve made is outstanding.”
Strange facing lower league team that hasn’t played in four weeks?
“Yea it’s unusual. I mean, it's not unusual here, particularly a lower league side making deep into a cup competition. But we’ve got to put that to one side and understand that it’s a cup final, irrespective of the opponents and whatever form you’ve got going into a cup game becomes irrelevant. It’s a one-off game and when you're talking about a final and everything that entails, we’re expecting a tough one.
"I watched the semi-final and it was a really good game with football played. At that time, they were going really well and unfortunately they just missed out on the playoffs. But there’s no doubt Billy Dodds will have them primed and very motivated. They’ve got a chance to create a real story for themselves and we’ve got to be at our best to make sure that doesn’t happen."
Spurs links?
"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.
"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."
"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."
Extra spring in the step?
“Training has always been good. After the Hearts game, from my perspective we could have taken a couple of different approaches. We knew we were champions and there were still four or five games to go. My view is that when somebody has such a real defined goal and they achieve it, there’s bound to be a let down. Look at every team around Europe that wins with games to spare - invariably there’s a drop off.
“I tried to counter that by being clever and change the team around. But I think all that did was disrupt our cohesiveness and our rhythm because the guys coming in hadn’t played for ages. So it didn’t really work but in the back of my mind, I always knew the boys had trophy day and cup day, the days that they’d be switched on and ready to go. You saw on the weekend, right from the first minute, we were really determined to be at our best. There’s nothing at training that’s changed, it’s just that for the guys themselves, there’s real clarity now about what they need to achieve.
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."
Scottish Cup Final something you watched back in Oz?
"Back home the English FA Cup final followed by the Scottish FA Cup was kind of tradition - that was our Saturday night in May. We would religiously watch that, it was a bit of an event for us to sit around and watch those two games. It's not just that it's a cup final, it's the occasion, the last game, there is always more about it, just the ceremony of the day. You would love to be a part of it.
"I didn't watch it last year, so that goes to show that we were still hurting from the fact we weren't there. Now we are there and that's why we want to make the most of it."
Cup history with Inverness
"It's a cautionary tale, put it that way. It has been mentioned to me a few times, I was aware of it anyway of course.
"But that's what I am talking about. When people think that I've got other things on my mind, that I'd allow anything to enter the sphere where we are not preparing ourselves for that occasion... I don't want to be that story. I want it to have a different ending this time. I want us to be the winners and us to claim the Scottish FA Cup, so that's where my head's at."
Mostly Celtic fans inside Hampden will be a big boost?
“There’s obviously some conjecture around Hampden as a venue but when we’ve been there, because of the split in fans and the atmosphere, I’ve loved every game there. Obviously we’re going to outnumber the Inverness fans but I’m sure they’ll do their best to be heard on the day, for sure.
“But I love that colour and that there’s opposing fans in there. There’s a lot of ceremony around FA Cups. It’s going to be great. The weather looks like it’s going to be good.
Record number of Trebles?
“It’s not my world record, it's the club’s. But that’s the sort of responsibility you carry. Every time you achieve something at this club, every trophy is marked, is heralded in the right way and celebrated. It’s extraordinary when you think about having a Quadruple Treble in one space in time - you might see it over a 30 or 40 year span rather than such a short space of time. Our opportunity to bring another one is incredible. We’ve got to dot, that’s the main thing.
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