Everything Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou said to Sky Sports ahead of the game against Rapid Vienna...

In terms of this pre-season, stark contrast to last season, what does it allow you to do this time around that you couldn’t do last campaign?

Yeah, fair to say there’s a fair bit of change, and I guess from our perspective we’re just a lot more settled. For a couple of reasons: one is not too many major changes in the squad, and we don’t have any qualifiers so we know when our first game is on. It gives us a chance to put everything in place and be well planned.

Change to your coaching setup, Harry Kewell is on board. He’s been here this morning, working with you. What has he brought to the group?

Yeah, I guess just energy and enthusiasm. I’m always very conscious of making sure that every year we bring a freshness to everything we do. In particular with the players, you know we had a successful season last year, we kind of know we have to go up a level this year. I think sometimes if players come in and see no change I don’t think it sends the right message. Harry’s had a crack at trying to be a manager, he wants to carve out a career for himself and he brings some real energy and enthusiasm for us.

I think the Celtic supporters are as happy with the transfer business so far as they’ve been in many a season. The two players you managed to retain over here on loans last season, how pleased are you to have got them, in terms of Jota and Cameron Carter-Vickers?

A: Yeah, really pleased. You know for us it’s not just about retaining them because they had good seasons last year. For me, if they were available this year I would sign them anyway, they are players who I know will improve, they’ve got their best years ahead of them. For us, the added bonus is we already know what they’re like as people and they fit really well with the culture and the group we have. As I said, they’re two exciting players who have got their best years ahead of them. I’m super pleased to have them part of this football club.

We thought that Christopher Jullien may be leaving the club. He’s here, he is part of the group, he’s played for you. Has his future changed given that Carl Starfelt is currently injured?

No not really everyone’s future’s the same, everyone’s future is unknown. None of us have any certainty about what we do, all we can do is with Chris [Jullien] and the other lads is, as I keep saying they’re training with us and while they’re with us I treat them as one of our players, and if that changes in the future, it changes. But, in terms of what we’re trying to do and what we’re planning for we’re still looking to bring in two or three players, there’s still a couple of areas we need to strengthen up and we’ll do that.

Christopher Jullien, has he spoke to you about his desires? Does he want to seek a new challenge? Is he happy here? What’s the general mood between the two of you?

Yeah I think they’re questions you need to ask him. I don’t speak on behalf of Chris; I hate to think that he’d want me to. The mood between me and him is the same as between me and Callum [McGregor]. There’s no difference. He’s a player at Celtic, I’m the manager and that doesn’t change with all of the players. We were in a similar situation last year, we had a few players, Ryan Christie, Odsonne, Kristoffer Ajer. I think if you speak to them I didn’t treat them any different to anyone else.

Albian Ajeti’s in a similar position, he didn’t play as much as he would’ve liked last season. Does he have a chance to force his way into the reckoning again with a fresh start this campaign? Or is he another who may look to seek a new challenge?

Again, that’s not stuff I really think about. You know they’re here to train, they’re getting an opportunity. Sometimes with the players, they’re going to make their own decisions about their futures as well. They know what they want to do and where they’ll get their best opportunities. They’re not discussions I have with the players unless they come and seek them with me. Right now, what’s really important for us is that we’re preparing for another big season and that’s where our focus is.

My final question of this nature, you’ll be glad to hear. Josip Juranovic, a lot of paper talk around him a few years ago linked with some very big clubs. How was his attitude? How have you dealt with that? There’s been a huge impact, smooth transition into the team the minute he signed.

It’s a good final question on that front, you won’t get a different answer. He’s part of the furniture, he’s training well, listen everyone’s future is uncertain. I think the key to it all is whatever happens in the future, he’s really determined by what you do today. With Josip, and the other boys, who had fantastic seasons last year, the key now is to improve this year. If they improve this year, all those kinds of things take care of themselves.

The challenge of retaining the title compared to winning the title – how do you see it?

The challenge is to improve, irrespective of what happened last year, and if we didn’t win the title we’d be looking to improve this year to try and win it. We won it last year, what we need to try and do is improve again. If we do improve then it gives us a chance to be successful. That’s what I’ve said to the players from day one this year. This is not about repeating last year’s success, this is about being a better version of ourselves next year, this coming season - in all fronts: individually collectively, and if we improve on last year it gives us a platform and an opportunity to be successful.

In terms of what you want to improve, to give you a chance to have a tilt at the league and also to have a chance at the Champions League group stages. What do you work on, and what are the real focus areas of this pre-season?

I think it’s across the board, and part of it is just strengthening the squad. We strengthened during the year last year, this year we’re a lot more settled. Which gives us a chance to work on our game and improve on our game model, and get the players a better understanding. We did a lot of that stuff on the run last year, and that’s what we’re trying to embed in this pre-season. But at the same time, I don’t think there’s a manager who would come out and say they’ve had a bad pre-season, or their signings aren’t good. So, we all spray out the safe kind of stuff, and it’s only when the season starts that you understand where you’re at, and the lesson for us is that last year we didn’t have a great pre-season, we were very unsettled, didn’t stop us being successful. So, I think the key to that is, you’ve just got to seek continuous improvement wherever your starting point is.