Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MIND THE GAP
Hoops miles in front of the rest but boss Rodgers insists it’s not all bad news for Scottish football
CELTIC might be leaving the rest of Scottish football in their slipstream but Brendan Rodgers insists rival clubs should be cheering his team on when they face Astana tomorrow night.
The Hoops, who fielded a shadow side against Kilmarnock on Saturday, consolidated their early lead at the top of the SPFL with a routine dismissal of Lee Mcculloch’s men at Rubgy Park.
James Forrest grabbed the first and Callum Mcgregor fired in a late second as Celtic dominated from start to finish.
Rodgers is set to strengthen his push for back-to-back
Trebles and a tilt at the Champions League by securing a Parkhead return for Patrick Roberts.
The Man City attacker will be unveiled in the next 48 hours as Celtic finalise a loan move that will cost up to £3m in wages and fees.
And the Hoops boss hasn’t finished tooling up for the Champions League and is still in the market for another hitman.
The Celtic squad departed from Glasgow yesterday afternoon in their plush jet and Rodgers suspects rival fans might secretly be sticking on a Hoops scarf and quietly cheering on his team in Kazakhstan tomorrow night.
Rodgers had a hint of a mischievous grin when he suggested it but his point was serious.
He said: “You have to look beyond. You guys report locally on the domestic game but you also have to think what is best for Scottish football, which is to have representation in Europe.
“And not just Celtic, other teams as well. Players will grow, they will develop, they will get great experience, so you can’t be just satisfied by being okay domestically, your hunger and desires after to be beyond that. If you can do that then players will be getting better and the national team will play at a better level.
“And the other clubs make some great money.
“I don’t think they would be too unhappy with us qualifying, at least the chairman certainly won’t.
“Maybe they will be sitting with their Celtic scarves. You just never know.”
The chairman can grab the scarves but Rodgers insisted Celtic are proud to further the Scottish cause on foreign lands.
He said: “I think it’s important for Scottish football. We have to fly the flag for Scotland.
“What is important is that we represent the country.
“Scotland traditionally was a country, although many years ago, which had this wonderful history of qualification for World Cups and all of a sudden there has been a dearth in the last 20-odd years.
“It’s important for Scotland. Let’s not get away from that.
“We have to ensure we represent the Scottish game as best we can and when speaking with Steven Gerrard and other pundits afterwards, they were really impressed with what they saw with us.”