Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has demanded focus from his squad following Steven Gerrard’s exit from bitter rivals Rangers.
Gerrard accepted an offer to join Premier League club Aston Villa, leaving the reigning Scottish champions without a head coach mid-season.
The Gers sit four points clear of Postecoglou’s Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premier League table after 13 games, as they look to defend their title.
“Thankfully it’s been quiet on my front, which has been good. They (media) are focusing over there (Rangers),” Postecoglou told SEN’s Whateley.
“It’s one club or the other every day in the news, so obviously the focus is on them now and getting a new manager.
“What I’ve tried to do, because you can get distracted by these things, is try and focus on us and make sure that we keep building what we’re trying to do.
“Because the reality is, obviously they’re going to have a managerial change, there’s a story every day and I think if you get distracted by those kinds of stories, you lose focus on yourself.
“It takes discipline because sometimes you want to react and you want to say what’s going on with the other clubs or what’s going on around different areas, but the key is to focus on ourselves.”
Celtic play St Johnstone in a League Cup semi-final at Hampden Park on Sunday morning (AEDT), as Postecoglou eyes his first piece of silverware with the Hoops.
“There’s a lot of noise, but as I said, that’s allowed us to stay fairly focused. We’ve got a massive game on Saturday – a semi-final of the League Cup at Hampden, it’s going to be pretty special,” the ex-Socceroos coach said.
“They tell me a semi-final or a final at Hampden is a special day, so we’re really looking forward to that.
“Last year, the club didn’t win either of the Cups and didn’t make the final, so the opportunity to get to a final is a massive incentive.”
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After a shaky start, the Postecoglou era is starting to take shape.
Celtic are on an eight-game unbeaten run in all competitions, but face a defining period before they host Rangers at Celtic Park on January 2.
“What I’ve been most proud about with the players is that I knew we’d have a rocky start and we’d be a little bit inconsistent or take us a while to settle,” Postecoglou said.
“We stayed resilient through that to give us an opportunity to get to this point where we’re still in all three competitions, we’re still in a good spot. We could have got knocked out of the Cup early when results weren’t great, or struggled in Europe, or fallen further behind in the league.
“This last five weeks has given us a platform to say, ‘OK, we’ve given ourselves an opportunity now to create something special’. We’ve got 11 games between now and when we play Rangers on the 2nd of January, so it’s a pretty big six weeks for us.”