Celtic not happy with choice of strip for St Mirren match - 'I don’t like it either but it is what it is, mate'

It has been well documented that the SMiSA Stadium in Paisley has not been a happy hunting ground for Ange Postecoglou since the Australian arrived in Scottish football.

Celtic wore their grey kit against St Mirren in Paisley - their only domestic defeat of the season.

Celtic’s only domestic blemish this season came against the Buddies on their own turf when they put in an uncharacteristically poor performance in the 2-0 Premiership defeat back in September. That reversal follows on from a 0-0 draw in the 2021/22 campaign which means that Postecoglou has not watched his team score a goal on Greenhill Road, never mind pick up a win.

“Yeah, they are a difficult team to play against,” Postecoglou said as he prepares for Sunday’s high-noon league showdown with Stephen Robinson’s men. “If you look at their position in the table you can see they are very consistent. Particularly at home, they have got some great results so yes they are always a challenging opposition. But for us nothing really changes. We just have to play our football and when we do that, when we successfully impose our style upon games we are hard to stop.”

Amid the fallout of losing last year to St Mirren, there was also a mini-stir caused by Celtic wearing their third kit, a silvery grey number. Television viewers did not like it, feeling that it clashed too much with the hosts’ black and white stripes. Postecoglou is also not a fan of the attire, but it will be the same outfit for this match, at the request of match referee David Dickinson.

“I think we are going to play in grey again,” confirmed Postecoglou. “I don’t like it either but it is what it is, mate. I think what people said on the day and what I thought on the day was it is harder to distinguish between players then it would be if there was a clearer distinction between the strips. But it is the referee’s decision and we abide by the referee’s decision.”

When asked if the shirts interfere with the players’ peripheral vision, Postecoglou laughed. “C’mon mate, c’mon,” he said. “There will be numbers on their shorts and socks and I am sure they can tell who is wearing a similar one.” It will help the contrast if St Mirren wear their black away kit, as has been suggested.

Celtic will hope to be wearing grins come 2pm on Sunday. The trip to St Mirren is the start of yet another important week for the club, with a double-header against Hearts coming up, firstly in the league at home on Wednesday and then the Scottish Cup at Tynecastle on Sunday. Those two matches against Robbie Neilson’s team will go a long way to deciding their treble fate after snaring the League Cup last month.

Quizzed on whether it is a good or a bad thing playing the Jambos twice in quick succession, Postecoglou replied: “That is part of the landscape here. That is how it works and what we try to do as a group is not to lump things together but treat every game as a new challenge and an opportunity to improve. When you do that even when you are playing the same opponent again you can still tackle things in a different way. Still have a really strong mindset about it.

“We went through it with Kilmarnock with a league game backing up into the semi-final of the League Cup four days apart. So you kinda understand with the quirk of the fixtures here that is how it happens but we never lump them together. They are different opportunities.”