ANGE Postecoglou has explained the importance of making sure Celtic‘s youngsters earn their minutes on the pitch, rather than being gifted them in a patronising manner just because the title may have been won already.

Ange Postecoglou
16th April 2023; Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, Scotland: Scottish Premiership Football, Kilmarnock versus Celtic; Celtic Manager Angelos Postecoglou gives a thumbs up

As the Bhoys stand just one victory away from securing the Premiership title this weekend, the manager knows he has a large squad to try and accommodate.

However, he insists he won‘t just hand out appearances for the sake of it. He has brought on the likes of Rocco Vata, Bosun Lawal and Ben Summers this season and there are some youngsters from the B team training with the first team.

But even if they win the league this weekend, the Aussie reiterates that he wants academy breakouts to earn their spot just like everyone else.

Speaking on Friday, Ange Postecoglou said: [Celtic TV]

“My approach is always that every game is an opportunity for us to perform and keep improving,” he said when asked if he’ll blood some youngsters when the title is sealed mathematically.

“I’m not a fan of just giving games to players for some sort of ceremonial thing, everything’s got to be earned.

“We’ve had Rocco, Benny Summers, Bosun Lawal training with us and they’ve had some game time because they’ve earned it, not because I feel like I need to give them reward. Everything they get from us they’ve got to earn. They’re training with us, the three young boys, and it’s not just them there’s others.

“It’s very competitive and that’s what’s got us to where we are right now. If I give somebody a game I better have some pretty compelling reasons to do it because there’ll be someone who’s not playing who will want to know why.

“I’ve been really consistent in saying that every team I select I think will win us a game of football and perform to the best possible level with the knowledge that we can put some decent players on.

“That won’t change irrespective of whether we’ve sealed the title or not.”

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