Ange Postecoglou was appointed Celtic manager on a 12-month rolling contract earlier this month; Australian has now completed a period of quarantine and flown into Glasgow from London ahead of first training session on Thursday at Lennoxtown
Wednesday 23 June 2021 17:20, UK
New Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou will take training for the first time on Thursday after completing his period of quarantine and arriving in Glasgow.
Postecoglou, who was appointed Celtic manager earlier this month, has missed the club's start to pre-season since his move from Japan but flew in from London earlier on Wednesday.
The Australian, 55, met with chief executive Dom McKay last week in London to begin preparing for the new season after some players returned to Lennoxtown for training last week.
Several members of the Celtic squad are yet to return from international duty.
Postecoglou said he was excited to continue his preparations for the season ahead and was pleased with the first impressions of Lennoxtown.
"It's great to be here," he said. "It's been a tough three weeks to get here but I'm super happy to be here now.
'It's been a bit of a whirlwind and I knew it wouldn't sink in that I'm the new Celtic manager until I got here. Now I can get cracking and start working.'
"I got to meet everyone and put everything in place that we need to. It's been fantastic. I already had some familiarity with it but it's a great set-up.
"The people here are fantastic and I'm looking forward to working with everyone. Everyone keeps warning me about the weather but it all looks pretty beautiful at the moment."
Postecoglou will spend 12 days working with last season's Scottish Premiership runners-up, before they leave for their pre-season training camp in Wales on July 5.
Postecoglou's first competitive match in charge will be against Danish Superliga runners-up FC Midtjylland in the Champions League second qualifying round on July 20 at Celtic Park, with the second leg eight days later.
Celtic open their Scottish Premiership campaign away to Hearts on July 31, live on Sky Sports.
Leigh Griffiths is hoping to extend his stay at the Glasgow club after a positive discussion with Postecoglou over his future.
The 30-year-old Scotland striker, who did not make Steve Clarke's squad for Euro 2020, made only seven Premiership starts last season is out of contract at the end of the month.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Griffiths said: "I spoke to the manager last week and he is keen to keep me on.
"We are looking for a deal to be done and hopefully it can be done in the next few days."
