Postecoglou speculation not causing Celtic to lose focus

Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley insists it will not be difficult to remain focused on the Scottish Cup final amid growing speculation over the future of manager Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou has become the odds-on favourite to take over at Tottenham with one report claiming he will meet Spurs chairman Daniel Levy on Monday.

The Celtic manager batted away questions over his future on Thursday as he bids to avoid distractions ahead of Saturday’s Hampden clash with Inverness and O’Riley claims the players will not be sidetracked.

“It’s not hard, to be honest,” the 22-year-old said. “There is always so much noise in football. Even with players, with managers, all sorts.

“There is a lot of stuff in the media all the time but I personally don’t believe most of the things I see, just because I know how football works.

“I’m sure he is very happy where he is because we are doing very well.

“It’s just part of football. Media-wise, there is always something going on and I’m sure there will always be the odd surprise that gets thrown in, someone leaves that you don’t expect, someone joins that comes out of nowhere. You just have to be ready for whatever comes.”

Postecoglou has been linked with numerous Premier League jobs throughout the season and Celtic have shown the focus to stay on course for a treble.

“It comes from, first of all, the hierarchy, the manager and staff setting the foundation of what can we do today to improve and taking it day by day,” O’Riley said.

“If you think too much about the future or stuff that has happened before, that’s when problems start to occur because you are probably in your head a bit too much.

“As long as we are focused on the day-to-day basics of trying to improve one another then I don’t think it should be a problem.”

However, the former MK Dons midfielder understands why many Celtic fans are anxious about the future amid the growing speculation over Postecoglou.

“He has provided so much success to the club, and hopefully that continues, and naturally fans are attached to someone who brings so much success,” he said.

“The same goes for the players in the group right now, everyone had good seasons for the most part, so naturally there is going to be interest in players, but hopefully we can keep as many together and push on even more next season.”