Ange Postecoglou admits 'selfish self-interest' as he responds to Celtic fan backlash over Australia trip

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has sought to make light of supporter opposition to the friendly with Rangers arranged for his Australian homeland in November, conceding he has particular reason to be warmed at the sales pitch surrounding the four-team tournament.

“I’m disappointed with that, mate… jokingly,” said Postecoglou in response to his team’s 2-0 win at home to St Mirren witnessing a Green Brigade banner protest against their club’s perceived joint venture with the Ibrox side. “No, look, I’ve said since day one that I’m not going to tell the supporters what to feel and what not to feel. Selfishly I’m delighted. I’m all over the promotional stuff which means I’ll hopefully still be in the job by then…

“Look, I’d love to take this team there to show people the football we can play. There are a lot of our supporters in Australia - I know, I’ve lived it - who will be snapping up tickets and changing whatever holiday plans they had to come watch us play. I can understand some people have different views on it. But from my perspective I’m not going to tell people how they feel. But I have some selfish self-interest in this. I’m going to feel super-proud to take this team to where I grew up.

“It’s massive for Australia but I think we’ve got to grow the game here for Scottish football. We’ve got an opportunity with a lot of interest in our football club, not just in Australia but Asia. Every other big club around the world takes advantage of that so why wouldn’t we take advantage of the fact we have got an unbelievable opportunity to keep growing the interest and popularity of this football club? That’s not just in the commercial sense - which is obviously a big part of football these days. But I will guarantee you we