BRENDAN RODGERS doesn’t do standing still.
At Tynecastle, with the score at 3-0 and a sixth league title won, Celtic’s manager let Craig Gordon know he was less than happy with the goalkeeper’s distribution and then after the whistle, when the championship was confirmed, captain Scott Brown got some gentle ribbing in response to the captain’s worst game of the campaign by some distance.
This is good news for Celtic, not so good for the rest.
Rodgers is all about what happens next, how an already good player can improve, if his team repeat this season’s only success only better. It seems as if he’s not satisfied by a long distance.
“I never get too carried away when we win and it helps me to never get too disappointed when we lose,” said Rodgers who was happy but calm. “If you are expecting me to be sliding on my knees, I’ve got to dry-clean this suit! I’m not one for that.
“I am happy, of course. I am very proud, but at 5-0, I was kicking the dugout. So I’ve just an in-built thing in my mind to be perfection. I know that can’t happen in football, but I’m really happy. I’ve always tried to keep my emotions intact.
“It’s a huge privilege for me. I went very close a couple of years ago with my Liverpool team.
“There were disappointment in that when it didn’t happen, but I could think of a better football club to win my first league title with than this club I’ve supported all of my life and dreamed to do it for the people that are close to me and all of the supporters.
“To do it here is fantastic and it’s two trophies now. We know what else we want to achieve before the end of the season and we are going to fight like hell to do it.”
Rodgers is the best manager Celtic have had since Martin O’Neill and much like his fellow countryman he was quick to heap praise on others when, in truth, the Northern Irishman has been the driving force behind a season which could go down as one for the ages.
“I’ll have a cup of tea tonight and watch the game again,” he said. “I’m more pleased for others. I am really happy with the board, firstly. They put their trust in me to come here and strategically we got together with a one club, one vision mentality.
“They put the trust of ownership on me to lead it, which I’m very grateful for, and they’ve allowed me to work. I am absolutely delighted for the players, so for them to play as they did today and have done for much of the season, and they will tell you there are big demands placed on them every day, but they get their rewards for it in terms of how they played today and winning their sixth title.
“I am over the moon for the supporters. I am very lucky because I am one of them but I’m on the sidelines. From the first day I’ve walked in to the club, they have given me nothing but 150 per cent support so for them to have a great day and to enjoy another occasions is great.
“So for me, I’m just happy that I can win it in the style I like. When I came in I said very clearly that the club was on a winning cycle and I wanted to keep that doing that in the best possible way we could.
“And I think we have shown that over the course of the season. I would be very harsh to say there was a better way to do it because how we’ve played and how we’ve worked has been amazing.”
It has been easy for Celtic but nobody expected it would be this easy. That both Hearts and Rangers have had average seasons did nothing for the competition; however, the reason why the leaders are so far ahead is because they have played some genuinely fantastic football.
“For anyone thinking it was easy, you only have to look at Aberdeen on Friday night and how well they played,” said Rodgers. “They have a really good team, an excellent manager and they go away and get a victory at a hard place to go.
“It’s been the level of our consistency. It’s the way the players work on daily basis and they’ve had the courage to take on board elements of the game I wanted to see. They have an ability to play out different systems, we have a 3-4-3 today, and they have shown how comfortable they are working how I have asked them to work.
“So it wasn’t easy. The number may tell you that but it’s not our way of thinking, every game is touch but it’s how you make it look.”
Rodgers played down the suggestion this was his biggest achievement in football. He is more a people manager than one who counts medals.
“My biggest feeling, the one I have emotionally, is how I can influence players,” he said. “So when I see Stuart Armstrong play like he did today that’s my big achievement. When I see Kieran Tierney play and when I see Scott Sinclair play, that’s great for me. When I see Scotty Brown develop these are my big achievements. That’s what my goals were when I set out to coach.”
And with that, Rodgers left the media room to have a cup of tea and plot.
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