ANGE POSTECOGLOU revealed on Tuesday that Celtic wouldn’t be releasing any players for international friendlies, with the Sydney Cup to participate in.

30th October 2022 ; Almondvale Stadium, Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland: Scottish Premier League football, Livingston versus Celtic: Celtic Manager Angelos Postecoglou congratulates goalscorer Greg Taylor of Celtic after the match

Steve Clarke expressed his frustrations with the decision after he named a squad without any Celtic players in it. Scotland is set to take on Turkey in a friendly match. Carl Starfelt will also remain with the Hoops, a decision his national coach wasn’t best pleased with.

Ange Postecoglou was asked about Steve Clarke’s comments on BBC Sportsound, to which the Aussie boss replied and explained his reasons behind the decision, admitting he sympathised with the Scottish manager.

“Steve’s got every right to be disappointed, he’s the national team manager. I’ve been there and I’ve been disappointed.

“As a club manager sometimes we’re disappointed when players go away with national teams and get injured or don’t play. We all get over our disappointment pretty quickly.

“I’ve no issue with Steve. I wish him all the best but, for us, this has been in our planning for quite a while. We’ve got guys away going to the World Cup as well so it’s not just Scotland that we’ve kept the guys from.

“We think this tour is important for us, important for our supporters, it’s important for our club and that’s why we’ve taken the decision.”

Asked if he felt the need to explain his call to Clarke, he responded: “I haven’t had the need to any other time, no different now. I’ve caught up with Steve a few times, he’s done a fantastic job as national team manager and we’re always supportive.

“We’re one of the clubs that have provided quite a few players for the national team and we always have been.

“But, as he said today, this is not our issue this is FIFA’s issue. They’re the ones who didn’t designate an international window which gives us the right to keep our players.”

The Sydney Cup has been in the works a lot longer than Scotland’s meaningless friendly. It also wouldn’t be fair for supporters who’ve bought a ticket to watch Celtic’s second-string team in action instead of the top-quality players the club has.

As the manager said, Celtic are well within their rights to make this decision.

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