ANGE POSTECOGLOU says that the decision to allow five substitutions ‘makes sense’, as he welcomed the chance to reduce the load on his players.

The SPFL clubs voted yesterday to reintroduce the option for an increased number of substitutions per match, after the rule had also been changed last season to mitigate the effects of fixture congestion caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Celtic have suffered a number of muscle injuries this season already during matches, and Postecoglou is pleased that he will be able to protect his players a little more in the second half of the campaign.

“We supported it, and when it was initially brought in a year ago, we had it in Japan as well and initially I wasn’t really that for it, because I just thought it kind of changes the game,” Postecoglou told the Celtic website.

“But with what’s happening in the world in the last sort of 18 months, and with the preferred option of most leagues around the world being to continue as is in terms of the number of games, and we don’t want to be cutting down seasons or abbreviating seasons, it just meant that there’s too much of a load on players.

“It makes sense that five subs gives every club, irrespective of the strength in the squad, the opportunity to not overburden the core group of players.

“We went through that in the first half of the season. It’s not just happening in this league, but if you look around the world, injury rates are going up because of the demands put on players.

“And obviously with covid still being around and still being a factor, I think it makes sense that we go back to the five subs and give every club the opportunity to look after their players.”