As Ange’s Celtic celebrate historic treble, fans in Sydney brace for heartbreak

“There will be time for that, and it’s not today.”

It can’t be far away. All signs point to a formal approach for Postecoglou next week by Tottenham, who have been without a permanent manager since Antonio Conte’s exit in March, and have reportedly made him their number one target.

The stars seem to be aligning – their incoming chief football officer, Scott Munn, is an Australian who worked with him through their time together inside the City Football Group’s global network, while the club’s chairman, the notoriously meddlesome Daniel Levy, has been apparently convinced of Postecoglou’s genius by his London-based agent Frank Trimboli, one of the British game’s biggest movers and shakers.

Spurs fans, like Celtic’s were not so long ago, are trying to come to terms with the likely appointment of a manager they’ve never heard of, from a country not known for producing world-class tacticians, coming directly from a league they don’t rate or respect. It will take time.

Classed as one of the English Premier League’s ‘big six’ clubs, and by Deloitte as the ninth-richest club in the world, Tottenham appear to have all the makings of a classic Postecoglou project. They have a sparkling 62,850-seat stadium in London – rated by some as the best ground in Europe – waiting to be filled, and a proud tradition in the same sort of positive, attacking football which he specialises in bringing to life.

Postecoglou has, of course, given nothing away. In his pre-final press conference, he effortlessly batted away question after question from the Scottish press on his future with all the confidence and assuredness of a peak Steve Waugh innings. He insisted his focus was solely on the cup final – and the completion of the treble – and refused to commit to anything else. Including Celtic.

Though they play in Scotland’s second tier, Inverness Caledonian Thisle have long been regarded as Celtic’s bogey side. You might recall this world-famous newspaper headline: SUPER CALEY GO BALLISTIC, CELTIC ARE ATROCIOUS. That was from a third-round Scottish Cup match in 2000, where ‘Caley Thistle’ prevailed in a 3-1 shock at Celtic Park. It cost manager John Barnes his job.

Postecoglou knows his history, and therefore needed no reminder of the dangers that lurked if Celtic were to treat them lightly, and take this cup final for granted. They did not, but that’s not to say they had it easy. Indeed, Inverness were defensively stubborn, and Daniel MacKay’s strike with five minutes to go gave them a sniff at 2-1, setting up a far more nervous end to the match than anyone in green and white had hoped for – until Felipe Jota’s injury-time goal gave them permission to breathe easy.

For a while, at least, they did, until those images of a wistful Postecoglou, and a shattered Desmond and Lawell, delivered an emotional gut punch.

“Honestly, I’m just sitting here waiting on him to come out and make a statement,” Cameron said.

“I’m not going to lie, I will go home and cry myself to bits and listen to Irish historical songs for days – purely on the basis that Ange is going to leave Celtic.

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“I’d like to think we’ve got him for another year but if he goes, good luck to him. If he goes, he’s left something there that is more than what Brendan Rodgers, Gordon Strachan, Neil Lennon could ever do. He’s done it off his own back. He’s come in and annihilated the league.

“What more can you ask of the guy?”