Tottenham appoint Ange Postecoglou as new head coach

Tottenham target Ange Postecoglou coy on future after Celtic win Scottish Cup

Ange Postecoglou, the manager of Celtic, has been evasive about his future after leading the team to domestic treble success and Scottish Cup victory.

Postecoglou is currently in the lead for the open role at Tottenham Hotspur.

The 57-year-old, who has won the Australian title with two different clubs, the J-League and two Scottish Premierships with Celtic, declined to confirm that he would stay at Celtic Park after Saturday’s 3-1 cup win over Inverness.

He said: “I deserve to enjoy this, the people around me deserve to enjoy this.

“Whatever other people want to focus on and talk about, I am not going to miss enjoying this moment with this group of people but also I owe it to my family, my friends, all of those closest to me.

“Everyone works hard and makes sacrifices to enjoy these moments. I understand that other people who aren’t invested in it want to ask these questions but for me, right now, the most important thing is that we reflect and just be in the moment of creating something special.”

Pressed further by reporters, who said Celtic fans wanted to hear about his plans, he said: “Yeah, but they deserve to enjoy this moment because, irrespective of what happens in the future, why would you not want to enjoy this moment just for what it is? It’s something historic.”

When asked if he anticipated being in Glasgow next season, the former Australia head coach said: “I anticipate enjoying this moment for the next 24-48 hours, as long as I can, before someone drags me away and takes my attention away from enjoying something that’s been hard-earned.

“The reality is, there’s probably players in that dressing room who won’t be here next year. That’s the nature of football.

“But I want them to enjoy it, I am going to enjoy it, and that’s all I am going to focus on until someone grabs me by the collar and tells me that I have to answer certain questions.”

Celtic sealed a world-record eighth treble, putting them ahead of Rangers, and a fifth in seven years.

Goals from Kyogo Furuhashi and Liel Abada put them in command and Jota clinched the trophy in stoppage-time after Dan MacKay’s header had briefly given Caley Thistle hope.

Celtic defender Carl Starfelt later acknowledged the widespread influence of Postecoglou, who wrestled back the league title from Rangers at the first attempt.

Starfelt said: “He came in when it was a really tough period and has done this rebuild. He is just a really good manager and everyone knows he is really important for the club but we will have to wait and see what happens, I don’t know.”

Tottenham have been seeking a new permanent manager since Antonio Conte was sacked in March.

His assistant, Cristian Stellini, took interim charge only to be dismissed a month later. Ryan Mason took the helm on a caretaker basis until the end of the season as the club finished out of the European places in eighth position