Ange, there is a huge focus on the January transfer window and spending big on new players. What has gone rather unnoticed is there are currently 6 academy players in the Celtic side. Is it important to you moving forward that Celtic continue to produce their own players and develop their own talent and for them to know that there is a pathway to the first team? Is part of your message and mantra to tell young players that if you're good enough despite your age you will get your first team opportunity?

First and foremost we are never going to be a club that splashes out on players as we just don't have the financial resources to do that and we will never be at that level when you see the economy of world football. We have got to be really efficient in both how we produce players and the players that we bring in. A big part for me is the academy pipeline. One of the areas that we are really concentrating on at the moment in terms of restructuring and in terms of making sure we are spot on with our coaching development and scouting of young players which will become a greater emphasis for us. It is ideal for me if we can always top up the team with players coming through our own processes meaning that they already understand how we play. Having worked with us they also understand the club and its values and the expectations around it. That makes it a whole lot easier than trying to bring a whole new breed of people every two to three years. It is another area where we are doing a lot of work in the background and obviously, we have people who have been involved in the academy for a very long time like Chris McCart and with the B team as well, I am working closely with them to make sure that pipeline continues.

Can I ask about Kyogo and this narrative of criticism that has developed around him where people have accused him of diving and all other sorts of stuff, how much are you aware of that, is the player aware of it and do you tell him to shrug these things off because he has brought a valuable contribution to Celtic in the short time that he has been here?

Who are these brave people and these warriors? Kyogo is the size of a jockey and he is playing against guys who are almost a foot taller than him and these brave warriors on the outside are casting aspersions. I haven't read it and I won't read it and if you end up in arguments with ignorant people you become one of them. I kind of ignore that narrative of criticism as you painted it. I think Kyogo has been great for our football club and has been great for Scottish football and I would be surprised if anyone wouldn't want someone of his character and playing ability in their club and in their league. Beyond that, as I said, who are all these brave soldiers sitting in their studios and lounge rooms or wherever they are throwing these narratives across the bay?

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Picking up on the transfers Ange, where are you in terms of transfers for January and are there any that are further down the line?

We are working hard on it and there are always things that you need to overcome on a daily basis particularly at the moment in terms of the way we have discussions and the way we follow up on things. I am still really happy with the way things are tracking and I still expect us to be well organised and have the people in place hopefully early in the transfer window. That has been the plan all along and that is what I have been working towards with Michael and the other key people at the club. There is nothing that is happening that has made me think we are not on schedule with that.

In terms of the game tomorrow night who do you approach it and will you give other players game time?

For us, we are still in the middle of a really busy period and we have eight games between now and the break and it makes sense tomorrow night for us to give some people a bit of rest as they have been playing a fair bit of football and also to give some others some game time because we are going to need them. We saw at the weekend how guys like Greg Taylor and Mikey Johnston came back into the team and it is really important whenever we need to make changes that somehow we get players some game time and tomorrow night is a great opportunity to do that. We can give some game time to players who haven't had a lot lately so that if they are needed moving forward or if they get an opportunity they have played some good football against a quality opponent. This will be a real test for us tomorrow night.

An injury update Ange any others out or coming back?

Stephen Welsh is fine. He is available. Tony Ralston won't be fit for tomorrow night. James Forrest came off at the weekend its nothing serious but we won't risk him tomorrow night. I think that's it in terms of guys who have short-term stuff. The rest are all long term.

Celtic don't do dead rubbers you said at the weekend, is this a chance for those fringe players coming in to lay down a marker as it is a busy Festive period coming up and it is a chance to stake a claim to become a first-team regular?

Yes. It's an opportunity for them. I wouldn't judge them on one performance but it is an opportunity. It is like anything else and you say at the weekend Liam Scales come on and he hasn't played a lot of football but he works hard in training every day and he played 15 minutes and he makes an impact. I wouldn't judge him harshly if he didn't. He hasn't done his cause any harm by coming on and making an impact and that is the opportunity that exists for all players whether or not they have played more recently or if they haven't. I know they have been training hard as that's how we train and I wouldn't let them train hard but the second part of that is what you said to make a case for themselves moving forward.

Can you expand on the quote that we will never be a club that splashes out but there is an expectancy among the Celtic fans for the club to spend money, can you give us a bit more info and tell us exactly what you meant there?

Splash for me is one of those words...we will never be a club that overspends put it that way. This club has been run well before my time and in a prudent manner in terms of its finances and that should always be the case. That hasn't restricted it from bringing in talent whenever it needed to and it did not restrict us in the previous window and it won't restrict us in the next window. We work in a football economy with different scales for different clubs and a club of our size has to operate a bit differently with the way we spend our money. We need a bigger bang for our buck as we can't get too many wrong. We want to be a club that when we invest in a player it is not an exact science as there are some that don't work out but we will never be spending for the sake of it that's for sure.

Tomorrow night is your 12th European tie of a remarkable campaign, how do you assess it all from walking in the door and competing in the Champions League to Europa League football and now the Europa Conference League beyond Christmas?

I definitely think the team has made progress whether that's reflected always in the results then...no. I think we have made progress in terms of our football and our performances. If you look at where we started and the team that we were putting out in the Champions League qualifiers to the last game against Bayer Leverkusen and our performance then it's been progressing. That has been pleasing but we did not achieve what we wanted to which is the disappointing bit but my view is that if we keep progressing and challenging ourselves to play against the very best then we will get better. Our group was a decent group as we have a team in Leverkusen who are third in the Bundesliga and Real Betis who are third in La Liga and Ferencvaros who are top of the Hungarian league - so that's not a bad group. It was a good test for us and I think we measured ourselves as we left nothing in the tank. I don't think you have to worry about us not putting it out there. We got spanked a few times but we gave out as much on our behalf and I think we have learned from that as well. It has been progressing and from that perspective I want it to continue.

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The Japan manager is talking about picking a domestic J-League squad for the qualifiers in January, do you see that as a boost to yourself and Kyogo given the amount of football he has played this year?

To a certain extent yes. There might need to be clarification around those quotes. I know he has picked his squad for a couple of friendlies beforehand but I am not sure that will be the case for the qualifiers. If it is then that would be great. It is coming up to Kyogo's 11th month of football now without a real break and we were looking at January to give him some time off and it would be great if he can come back with us and finish the season strongly. We are always monitoring him and he is pretty good at looking after himself off the field and presenting himself well. I think the whole national team thing is always going to be a challenge for us especially this coming year with the calendar as it is. We have coped with it in the past and we'll cope with whatever is thrown at us in the future.

A lot of players in this period prefer playing games every three days or so, do you have the same mindset or do you like training time in-between?

What else is a player going to say other than they like playing games? I get that. There is always a balance to be struck as I think players like an intense sort of training period as well and a good recovery between games because they can perform to optimum levels. If you are constantly playing, I get it, they enjoy playing, but I think players themselves realise that they can't perform to the highest levels all the time because of the amount of football they have to play. Maybe they just don't enjoy my training mate. From my perspective as a coach you always want more time with them to recover and to do some work for the next game. You have to be creative as a coaching staff and a manager to find other ways to get your information across to the players. Even though it's a tight schedule we are still giving them the opportunity to improve both on and off the field with the information we give them. You don't want to be playing games without developing and improving.

Is Barkas heading out in January as there has been a lot of talk about that?

In terms of players going out, I have been fairly consistent on that basis and discussions will happen between now and January and if players feel that their futures will be better served away from here then we will sit down and find a solution. My focus right now is what is in front of us as we have some big games coming up. In the background we are working on players we want to bring in and players who want to go we are working on that too. In terms of individual discussions, it is not an avenue that is a priority for me right now.

You enjoyed Tannadice and is that as satisfying a feeling as you have had on the road with Celtic so far?

It was a good performance and I am allowed to enjoy myself. I am not that miserable all the time. We played well and scored some good goals and I managed to smile a couple of times and I do love what I do and I feel pretty fortunate. I am going to enjoy the good times as a lot of our players and fans do. Was it more e significant than any other away victory? Not really, you know how hard it is to win away against a difficult opponent and I was just pleased that we played well and we scored some good goals and gave some excitement to our fans and that is stuff I enjoy as well. I will try and stay more reserved next time so people don't get too upset about things.

Is Joe Hart's role when it comes to mid and long-range passing for his skillset specifically or is this a template for how all goalkeepers will play at Celtic?

It is not about Joe Hart specifically, it is just how we want to play our football and I have always felt that with that emphasis on goalkeepers playing it out from the back that if you want to be that team that builds from the back then the goalkeeper becomes a pretty crucial part of that. I have never expected my goalkeepers to nail passes like Beckenbauer or am I talking to the wrong generation? The idea of a goalkeeper is there to use his hands to stop the goals but he can also help us in our build-up by making simple passes and being an avenue for us to change the direction of the game. It is a big part of our game and it is not just about Joe but any goalkeeper I have had it is about giving them the confidence and tools to assess what the options are when you are playing it out from the back. Joe's distribution is improving and there have been a couple of moments in recent weeks where he has played things a bit longer out of his hands and we have had some great counter-attacks from that because of the players we have upfront and that is developing as well. That is more the way I want my team to play as being specific to Joe.

Are there any players from the B team you might integrate tomorrow or in the future?

Toby Oluwayemi. Stevie Woods our goalkeeping coach rates him very highly and we have had him training with the first team and he has shown good qualities. We try and include these guys as much as we can and give them that experience whether it is training or whatever. Toby was on the Champions League list so it gives him a chance to travel with the team and get that experience and we had other guys like Dane Murray who has played football with us. I always keep my eye on the B team structure and work closely with Tommy on who we should give first-team experience and training to. Dane is on the list and we have had him on the bench a few times. Any opportunity we get to give them first-team experience whether that be playing or training is valuable. They need support and they train alongside us here. We want them to see that they can cross that fence line and become part of the first team.

You said last week Jota would be a few weeks out, how confident are you that he will be available for the cup final?

I am very confident he won't. Jota won't make the final. A few weeks means a few weeks and I don't know how long that will stretch out for but he won't be around for the cup final.

Was it a more serious injury than you first thought?

I was still waiting for the full diagnosis when he came in but I knew it was going to be around 3-4 weeks depending on how the recovery was going. It happened a week ago. The timelines are tight and we will just need to see how he recovers from it.