Celtic-Aberdeen Reaction: Joe Hart not going there; Joe Lewis makes emotional gesture; plastic pitch invasion

Champions Celtic swatted Aberdeen aside 5-0 on trophy day at Parkhead as they lifted more silverware and warmed up for Saturday’s Scottish Cup final against Inverness Caledonian Thistle, with the treble now on the line. Here are some talking points.

Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart addressed the matter of manager Ange Postecoglou's future following the 5-0 win over Aberdeen (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

Postecoglou: “Fully committed – to Saturday”

Nearly everyone at Celtic Park yesterday had something to say about Ange Postecoglou’s future, including Joe Hart. The Celtic goalkeeper is at least better informed than most. He has also played at Spurs, the club the Celtic manager has been linked with in recent days.

Not that that is helping shed any light on Postecoglou’s immediate future other than the manager was doing everything in his power to lead Celtic to the treble this weekend.

“When you perform to the levels he is there is always going to be that speculation but he was fully committed to us today, fully committed to Saturday,” said Hart. “Football is a mad world but when you see the appreciation and the love and the way we all work for him and he works for us it is a good thing.

As for the Spurs link, nah. Hart wasn’t going there. That’s the past. “Respectfully, I have nothing to do with Tottenham anymore,” he said. “I had my time there. I appreciated the moments I was there but I’m all in Celtic now.

“I don’t think Tottenham any more, just like my other teams. It’s important to live in the moment. That’s what I’m doing and it’s what the manager’s doing.

“Obviously, we want that to continue. It goes without saying we want him to stay for the long-term. The whole place does. We’re working well as a group but football is what it is.

“We’re loving every moment. He includes us in the collective, staff, players, people behind the scenes, the Celtic family. We’re very lucky that we’ve got something important to look forward to next week.”

Say it ain’t so, Joe

It was interesting to observe another goalkeeping Joe at Parkhead. Joe Lewis was on the bench for Aberdeen which meant he had about as much involvement as Hart, who, as someone pointed out, did more litter picking than actual goalkeeper as the tifo plastic swirled around the pitch.

As for Lewis, he made a very deliberate point of heading to the Aberdeen fans tucked in the corner at the end to salute them, thumping his chest in the manner of someone imparting the message that he will always love the club. It’s always fun trying to interpret the reactions of players on such afternoons at the end of a season in a bid to discern if anyone’s actions might be interpreted as a sign they are heading off to pastures new.

It would be a surprise in the case of Lewis, who has another year of his contract left. But the one-time automatic first choice has only played four times this season and each of them ended in defeat, three of them catastrophically so against Hearts (0-5), Darvel (0-1) and Hibs (0-6). Sometimes second choice ‘keepers are given a run-out in the last game of the season but Lewis will be glad to have sat out yesterday with Kelle Roos left to retrieve the ball from the net five times.

Keep Celtic Park tidy

The aforementioned pitch invasion by scraps of plastic became almost obstructive midway through the second half, when discarded bits of the tifo display were being caught up in players’ feet as they made runs with the ball. Celtic’s Tomoki Iwata quickly sought to do some litter picking and had scrunched up balls of plastic in both his hands when he was suddenly involved in a move. It gave a whole new meaning to the term sweeper.