Ange Postecoglou reveals gripe with Celtic post-split fixtures - 'it is what it is'

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has expressed frustration with the fixture scheduling after his side were handed two consecutive away matches after the Premiership split.

The SPFL confirmed the fixture list for the final five rounds of games on Tuesday and Celtic, who are 13 points clear at the top of the table, face a trip to Hearts first on May 7 followed by an Old Firm showdown with Rangers at Ibrox on May 13.

Celtic can clinch the title with a win in either fixture but with only a small away allocation at Tynecastle and no visiting supporters permitted at Ibrox – following the Rangers fan lock-out at Celtic Park last month – Postecoglou admitted he would have preferred one of the first two dates to have been allocated for a home fixture.

Instead, Celtic won’t return to home soil until facing St Mirren on Saturday, May 20, by which time the championship may have already been decided.

Ange Postecoglou has expressed frustration over Celtic's post-split fixture scheduling. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

"It's always a bit of a challenge, I guess, for those doing it," Postecoglou said. "I would have liked to have had at least one home game in those first two just because it means that again our supporters won't see us for three weeks. So it would have been nice but ultimately it is what it is.

"We've just got to deal with what's before us and in terms of the league that's going to Hearts away who have got a new manager in Steven (Naismith) in and they got a great result last week. It's always a challenge at Tynecastle anyway so it'll be a good place to go and win it because we're going to have to earn it to do it.”

Postecoglou, meanwhile, is relishing the high-stakes nature of Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final showdown with Rangers. The two Glasgow sides meet at Hampden in a match that is likely to go a long way to deciding whether the Hoops win a domestic treble or the Gers can win a trophy this season.

Celtic lost to Rangers at the same stage of last season’s competition, but their manager is looking forward to another huge match for his team, with the winner of the tie between lower-league pair Inverness and Falkirk awaiting the victors in the final.

“It’s a cup semi-final and it’s going to a be real good game with everything on it in terms of both teams knowing the consequences of not being successful on the day,” Postecoglou told Celtic TV. “It’ll have everything that you normally expect from a cup semi-final and it’s one we’re looking forward to.

“At this time of the year they are all big games and they are games you would rather be involved in rather than sitting at home watching them, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Celtic go into the last-four clash having dropped points in the league for the first time since January after they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Motherwell last weekend.

“We were disappointed with the game on the weekend, both in performance and obviously in the result, but there’s a learning moment there for us,” he said. “And we’ve been pretty good at learning along the way while winning games of football, which is not easy, because it’s easy to let things just roll along.

“So when you get an opportunity like the weekend when we didn’t do things as well as we wanted to, it’s a chance for us to improve that, within the context, though, of understanding that the group has been outstanding for a very long time.”