Ange wears Celtic heart on his sleeve as he uses 'unbelievable' club to make a point about an escalating rumour

Ange Postecoglou paid tribute to "unbelievable" Celtic as he used his exit from Parkhead to deliver a key point about Gareth Southgate amid his own links about replacing him.

The Tottenham boss has emerged as a candidate to become the next England manager and replace Southgate who stepped down after eight years at the helm after losing the Euro 2024 Final to Spain. Postecoglou – in his usual style – joked he was napping when his name spread like wildfire as an option for the gig hours before a 5-1 friendly victory over Hearts. And former Australia boss Postecoglou waxed lyrical about the departing England boss and highlighted the importance for managers to exit on their own terms.

Speaking after the dominant win against Hearts, The 58-year-old said: "I reckon by the end of it there will be 100 of them. I’m in the top 100, thank you. That’s decent. Yeah, look in my whole career I have always felt there was a natural conclusion. Sometimes as a manager it gets taken out of your hands so you have no choice if you move on or not but I have kind of always moved and felt it was the right time. He is the best judge of that. He has done an unbelievable job, ridiculously good in terms of results and performances in major tournaments. The expectation is now really high for England and he has created that. He is in the best place to say whether it was time for him and like I said as managers a lot of the time our future is taken out of our hands so it’s nice when we make the decision sometimes."

And Postecoglou once again beamed about Celtic as he talked up the team he secured five trophies for in two seasons and brought a style of football which thrilled supporters.

He added: "Yeah, I loved my time here. Such an unbelievable club