Given his well-documented penchant for nocturnal carousing, the idea of Frank McAvennie hosting a press conference at 8.30 in the morning was something of an eye-brow raiser. “This is still the middle of the night for me,” said the 57-year-old with that trademark beam on his face.
Like most of a Celtic persuasion, McAvennie is not having many sleepless nights over the club’s current form as they steamroll their way towards another title. The charge of the green and white brigade just keeps on going and the trophy engraver may as well do the necessaries now.
Brendan Rodgers, the Celtic manager, continues to be showered with plaudits and McAvennie was just about down on bended knee as he added his praise for the Northern Irishman.
“The fortunes to have changed so quickly and it’s frightening to see the change in the personnel,” said McAvennie on Rodgers’ ability to get the best out of his bunch. “The likes of Dedryck Boyata or Stuart Armstrong weren’t going anywhere with Ronny (Deila) and now all of a sudden the new man has come in and he has transformed not just the players but the club.
“Good players can often go to Celtic or Rangers and get lost, they can’t cope with the demands. Since Brendan has come in, he’s took some players and almost wrapped them in cotton wool and told them to go out, play football and enjoy themselves.
“There are managers who you play for and managers who you would run through a brick wall for. Big Billy (McNeill) was someone I would have run through a wall for. John Lyall (at West Ham) too. There are just certain managers who you go that extra mile for.”
In the prolific Moussa Dembele, Celtic have profited hugely from the kind of bargain hunt that David Dickinson and Tim Wonnacott would have been in raptures about. “I think it is possibly a better bit of business than Henrik Larsson,” added McAvennie.
While Celtic stride on with purpose, cohesion and vision, their old foes Rangers continue to rummage around for a new man to steady the ship and steer it in the right direction again. “If the team across the city have any aspirations they just have to look at what’s happened (at Celtic),” said McAvennie, who is looking forward to seeing Celtic and his first club St Mirren go head-to-head in the William Hill Scottish Cup this weekend. “Nobody was scared of Celtic last year. They were going to Celtic Park and having a go. A new man has come in and they are all terrified about going to Parkhead now. I don’t know about all this nonsense of directors of football and stuff like that. I just look at what Brendan has done. If you have aspirations, you pay the money and you get a good manager. Celtic have put the template down.”
Frank McAvennie was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is the proud sponsor of the Scottish Cup.
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