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I don't know if Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou is a member of the Dead Poets Society. I don't know if he has ever seen the film of the same name either.

Maybe I’ll ask him one day but, for a man who claims not to be a big one for talking, Postecoglou sure speaks and uses words in a most inspirational way.

For those that are unfamiliar with Dead Poets Society, it tells the story of a maverick English teacher who inspires his students with life lessons through his teaching of poetry.

The film stars the late, great Robin Williams as the protagonist John Keating. Keating takes over a junior-year high school class of promising students and, through unorthodox ways of teaching English, encourages his pupils to make their lives remarkable.

It is perhaps most well-known for two lines, each proffered by Williams’ character.

The first: Carpe Diem.  Delivered while teaching his class Robert Herrick’s poem To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, he adds: “Seize the day, boys, and make your lives extraordinary.”

The second: O captain, my captain. Actually spoken before Carpe Diem, he produces this line tells the class they can “either call me Mr Keating or, if you’re slightly more daring, ‘O captain, my captain’.” It is a line the boys later repeat back to him while standing on their school desks in the film’s climactic, iconic final scene.

READ MORE: The 'ridiculous' Celtic superiority that still sets them apart from Rangers

Both lines have lived on as the film passed into the archives; it is powerful, evocative stuff.

What has all this got to do with Postecoglou though?

Well, here's the thing: at Hampden Park earlier this week the Australian was fulfilling his media obligations and yours truly at one point, decided to pick up on something that Cameron Carter-Vickers had said in the lead-up to last weekend’s 4-0 SPFL Premiership victory over Aberdeen.

“The message from the manager in every game is to make this the best team performance and individual performance that you have ever played,” the USA international said. “That's largely what we focus on and I think that is why we maintain such consistency in performances and results."

So taking that adage I asked Postecoglou what, if he demanded that from his players, does he do to make himself the best manager that he can possibly be on a weekly basis.

His answer, frankly, blew me away – although I stopped short of standing on the nearby desks and saluting him as O captain, my captain (or would it be O leader, my leader?).

Celtic Way:

"I am not a big one for talking too much but behaviours and actions are probably more important than words,” Postecoglou told me. “That is the way I try and present myself to the boys. They see me there every day and I am in there early. I am at every training session, I am preparing myself for what is going to happen at the weekend.

“When you do that and you portray those behaviours as well as give them the words to back it up then they follow that lead and that's my job.

"I treat every game as an opportunity, I say that to the players. Age and experience do not always give you wisdom – I know what it's like when your playing career ends, you miss it all.

“You have seen stories recently of players who struggle when they stop playing. You miss training, you miss the bad days, the bad coaches, and you'd have it all back. You don't just miss the big games or the big moments, you miss it all. That's what I try and tell the players every day: don't waste a day, don't waste a minute of your football career because one day it will all be finished.

"The one thing don't want to look back and say is did I really appreciate what I did? Did I really give everything that I wanted to? Did I really make the most of it? When I talk to them about trying to make every game the best game of their career to date.

"There is nothing that says it can't happen this Sunday or next Sunday. Don't just use it as a game where you get the win and get it out of the way because you could be missing a little nugget of gold that will make it all worth it and give you comfort in the days when it's all gone."

You can probably see exactly why I was getting John Keating vibes now, can’t you?

This was, it seems to me, Postecoglou’s version of Carpe Diem. He implores his Celtic players to seize the day; to make their footballing lives extraordinary.

The 57-year-old hasn't been standing on any desks since he arrived at Celtic but he has forced us all – Scottish football media included – to look at football in a different way since he became the Hoops boss.

He has constantly challenged the conventional wisdom and, while he ain't no Robin Williams, he does possess a droll sense of humour too at times.

However, inspirational sayings do not cup winners make.

Come Sunday it is another Latin phrase, Acta non verba – deeds, not words – that will see Celtic win the trophy. Dare these players contribute a verse to the history of the club?

This piece is an extract from the latest Celtic Digest newsletter, which is emailed out every weekday evening with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from The Celtic Way team.

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