Passionate Ange Postecoglou wants Celtic fans' investment not to end up as false hope

Celtic will finish with their lowest points total across the club’s 11 Champions League campaigns if they do not avoid defeat in their final Group F encounter against holders Real Madrid in the Bernabeu.
Ange Postecoglou salutes the Celtic fans at Parkhead.Ange Postecoglou salutes the Celtic fans at Parkhead.
Ange Postecoglou salutes the Celtic fans at Parkhead.

Yet, you would hardly think they only had two draws from five games, given the Celtic faithful’s approval for Ange Postecoglou’s commitment to attack in the club’s first stint at the top table in five years. They believe better times can lie ahead in the tournament following their competitiveness in all their outings. And having taken the fanbase with him for a high-risk strategy, the 57-year-old wants their investment not to end up as false hope.

“I think that’s important,” the Celtic manager said. “I think the one thing we can do, if we are not giving our supporters the results or the euphoria of winning games at this level then, is at least give them hope. You want to build on that. You don’t want it to be just endless hope without the results. I think our supporters will be disappointed that we couldn’t get more out of this group and I think we have had opportunities to do so. But at the same time I think they can see what we are trying to do and what we are trying to build and they can see the road ahead. If we can continue in this manner then instead of hitting the post the ball will go in and we will get them behind us and games will go our way.

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“If I just sit here and say ‘look we are obviously not good enough and we’re probably not going to be good enough next year either’ and the way we played the games meant we went out there just to survive, then I think our supporters as well as disappointment they would not have any hope. What it means for my perspective is that I have a responsibility to see that through so that they are not disappointed at the end of it. Because I am the one that’s selling them that hope. I don’t think it’s a season-on-season thing but I firmly believe if we qualify next year and play like we did this year there will be a couple of games when the results go our way. No-one can tell me we couldn’t have been on four or five points with the way the games have gone in this campaign.

“So if we are in it every year and playing at that sort of level I think there will come a year or years where those results will go our way and we will be making more of an impact. But that will only happen if we are in it every year. You can’t go every three, four or five years, jump up to this level and expect to make an impact, not at a club of our size anyway.”