Ange Postecoglou has urged fans to focus on the football after referee Kevin Clancy received death threats in the aftermath of Celtic’s 3-2 win over Rangers last weekend.
The official, who disallowed an Alfredo Morelos goal early on at Parkhead, was targeted in the wake of the powderkeg derby in Glasgow, prompting Police Scotland to investigate.
Some supporters claim the decision to chop off the visitors’ opener – a call that has since been disputed by Rangers – ultimately swung the match in their rivals’ favour but Postecoglou feels such a view is reductive.
The Greek-Australian believes it was an error-strewn contest and does not see the value in chalking it all up to a single incident, and he is hoping his players will have ironed out the creases by the time they travel to Kilmarnock on Sunday.
“If you look at last week it was a game that had everything,” Postecoglou said. “It was exciting, we won, so we were happy. I get that. But nobody can tell me that was a high-quality football match.
“There were mistakes from both teams. Both teams made a hell of a lot of mistakes. We certainly analysed ours on the Monday. And I would say both managers would agree they probably made mistakes on the day.
“The fact people think one individual — in this case the official — and one decision has decided the outcome of the game is just not right. It’s not right. I felt we should have had a penalty at Ibrox. That’s my opinion. But it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. These are all opinions.
“We don’t have to make the decisions. When an official has to make a decision we have to respect the fact that’s what they have done.
“When you’re analysing a game — and I get it, particularly here in Glasgow where if you take one side or another you’re painted as being in one camp or the other — but I think there are enough independent observers who could walk out of that game and say: ‘it was a game full of mistakes and ultimately not one decided the game’.
“My role on a Monday is to analyse our performance and our players were outstanding in their character and will they showed to get the job done in a difficult game with a lot riding on it. But we made a lot of mistakes during that game and that’s the feedback we gave the players. If we want to improve, that’s where the improvement will come from.”
Postecoglou added: “My reaction [to Clancy receiving death threats] is pretty much like everyone else’s. It should not come to that and hopefully the authorities are dealing with whomever has been found going down that route.
“We understand we are all working in a public space and with that comes scrutiny but it should always be on a professional level. It should never interfere with players’, managers’ or officials’ private lives.
“That’s totally out of bounds and it should be dealt with strongly —but especially with officials because players and managers, we have clubs and supporter bases that can get behind us. But officials rely on the integrity and respect of everyone else involved in the game to protect them from things like this.
“It’s a timely reminder to everyone — myself included — that the language we use and how we address these things is really important. I’m disappointed it’s come to this and hopefully the authorities deal with it.”
