Keith Jackson tells Ange Postecoglou to put the violin away
Keith Jackson has told Ange Postecoglou to put the violin away and get on with playing SPFL matches while star players are away on international duty.
Having players half-way round the world five or six times a year is a known risk that clubs take on when they sign Australian, Asian or African players.
Taking note of that FIFA brought in a world wide fixture card which ensured as far as possible that UEFA were playing internationals at the same time as other Confederations.
The Asian qualifying campaign is longer than the UEFA route with Celtic facing upto the prospect of seeing players go off on international duty for Australia and Japan while the hoops face three SPFL Premiership matches. SPFL rules allow clubs to request postponements when they have three or more players unavailable.
Opening the questions in the Record’s Monday Morning Jury:
Should Celtic request Premiership postponements if three or more players are on World Cup duty?
KEITH JACKSON: No. Ange Postecoglou says he won’t be getting the violins out if he’s missing players so Celtic simply have to get on with it. The fixture list is rammed already.
That quote was taken before Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi were signed, taking Celtic’s Japanese contingent to four with Socceroo Tom Rogic signed nine years ago today.
Should Celtic ask for postponements if they are missing three internationalists?
Playing three SPFL Premiership matches over eight days without three players good enough to be involved in World Cup qualifiers would be a massive and unnecessary risk for Postecoglou to take on.
The home match against Dundee United shouldn’t be too much of a stretch but going away to Hearts and hosting a Glasgow derby at less than full strength could be viewed as foolish.
In June 2020 Peter Lawwell gave his last newspaper interview as Celtic CEO, speaking to Jackson at the Record.