The Australian offered his stance on being reminded of the claim by his recently appointed Rangers counterpart that the Ibrox club would have successfully defended the championship had he and Steven Gerrard remained in Glasgow.

Ahead of the pair now facing off as equals in a derby for the first time, Beale could hardly have been more respectful of the Australian, or effusive in his praise. He has talked of “liking the style Ange plays in” and how, through a mutual acquaintance, he knew Postecoglou “was a really good coach” long before he pitched up in Scotland.

However, in his pre-match pronouncements, the Rangers manager reiterated an assertion he made in October that, in the Ibrox club leading the cinch Premiership by four points when he and Gerrard moved to Aston Villa last November, the pair would have seen off the revamped side Postecoglou propelled to league success last season.

Ange Postecoglou takes Celtic training ahead of the Old Firm clash with Rangers. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

"I thought Celtic would improve,” Beale said. “[But] I thought me and Steven would stay one step ahead because we had the rhythm and the momentum at the time but we left and the momentum shifted and we are where we sit today. My job is to do what me and Steven did previously, but I hope a little bit quicker.”

Postecoglou is unmoved by such revisionary sentiments - which follow Beale earlier stating “there is no way they [Celtic] would have come past us” without the management change at Rangers in late 2021 that ushered in Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s short tenure. “I assume that’s his opinion, what that means to me I don’t really know…” said the Celtic manager. “It doesn’t really worry me. I’m not focused on last year, I’m focused on this year. Last year’s story is written. There is a trophy that is in our cabinet. I’m just worried about this year, that’s all I’m focused on.

“I don’t talk about last year with our team or within these walls. If people ask me about last year that story has already been written, the answers are there. My focus is on this year, what we are going to do now and for the rest of this season. That’s all I care about.”

Postecoglou’s Celtic establishing a nine-point gap at the top of the table this season - to become only the fourth Scottish team in the past 122 years to win 18 of their first 19 league games - gives rise to a belief the conclusion to this title race could already be penned. The 57-year-old refuses to engage with such a point of view with the Premiership only at the halfway point. And he knows that he will face a different challenge from Rangers with the Ibrox team now under Beale’s charge.

“Of course [that is the case] because he is a different manager,” said Postecoglou. “He has his own ideas and his own way of playing which I think we have already seen in the games so far. There have been slight adjustments to the way they set up and he has tried different players in different positions. So our job is to prepare for what we are looking to face on Monday and that is going to be a different Rangers team to the one we faced in the first game. We will be well prepared for it.”

And Postecoglou appears well disposed towards a man who has had a positive impact on a struggling team in leading Rangers to four straight wins across his month in charge. “From my perspective we are all in the same industry and while we are all competitors I don’t think that should mean there isn’t a basis for respect there,” said the Celtic manager. “Because we all know how difficult and challenging our jobs are. Michael has obviously taken over a very big football club over there and he is obviously keen to have success. I know how challenging that is so there is respect there but we are competitors and we both want to win for our respective clubs tomorrow.”

'There's a trophy in our cabinet' - Celtic boss responds to Michael Beale's Rangers title claim

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