BRENDAN’S STANDARD BEARERS
Sinclair backs Scots Bhoys to get country on a high
SCOTT SINCLAIR has seen Celtic’s young Scots guns help their club climb to the highest of highs.
Now he’s backing those same Hoops colleagues to raise the standards for their country and help get it back to where it belongs on the international stage.
At the weekend it was Sinclair, Moussa Dembele and Olivier Ntcham who took the headlines with the goals in the 4-0 win over St Johnstone that set a new unbeaten domestic record.
The Englishman and the French striker have made outstanding impacts in the 17 months since Brendan Rodgers arrived and brought the pair with him.
But the manager admits the evolution of those homegrown boys who were already at the club has been just as important as the obvious success of any of his new arrivals.
Kieran Tierney has established himself as a first pick for his country while emerging as one of Europe’s hottest talents. Leigh Griffiths has cemented his position as the No.1 striker in the Scotland squad.
James Forrest has made big strides forward for his country while Callum McGregor will win his first cap on Thursday against Holland at Pittodrie.
Craig Gordon is again now recognised first choice and the connection between Celtic’s success of the past year and a half and Scotland’s shoots of recovery are clearly visible.
And Sinclair said: “You’ve seen with Kieran, there has been speculation around him. It’s great he’s signed a new deal as I’m sure all the teams in Europe are looking at him.
“James had an amazing game the other day in the Champions League and there are a lot of great young Scottish players coming through, playing week in and week out so they deserve credit.
“Can they be the driving force for Scotland in the years to come? Yeah, from my personal experience of being in a team like this. That’s why we are setting records.”
Sinclair has had his own big part to play in the success. Last season he scooped the Player of the Year awards with an astounding campaign of scoring and making goals as the club marched to an Invincible Treble.
He is contributing hugely again this term and admits it is a special time to be part of the club.
Sinclair said: “It’s great and the run just shows the team spirit, the hard work we’ve put in and the mentality we have. I’ve loved it, playing every week and scoring goals.
“This is a squad that wants to win and it’s a great achievement for the club to get this run.
“We haven’t thought about it too much although I’m sure in the weeks to come we’ll realise it and evaluate the situation. But right now I don’t think we really understand what we’ve achieved.
“I haven’t been looking back at the team from the past, it’s only really what people have been telling me.
“It’s down to mentality, the squad and the team wanting to do well. You saw against Bayern everyone gave it 100 per cent and I’m sure there were a lot of players running more in those games.
“But we went to St Johnstone and gave it the same amount of effort because the confidence and mentality is there to make sure our standards don’t drop.
“It’s a collective thing, I have never been at a better, well gelled team where everyone is so together on and off the pitch. I think you can see that during matches.”
Without a call from England, Sinclair now has 12 days of the international calendar to recharge his batteries and tool up for the next stage of record breaking.
But there will be no letting up – no resting on laurels.
Sinclair insists Celtic are determined to keep pushing the boundaries and smashing through barriers to keep creating records and making more history.
As far as he is concerned it is not just a case of setting a mark of 63 matches. It’s a case of 63 and counting.
Sinclair said: “Winning mentality is the biggest thing. Every game we go into we want to win and if we can break more records along the way then great.
“We don’t want to stop now, sit back and say, ‘Well, we’ve beaten the record.’
“We’ve set targets now and we have to keep working hard. The manager never lets us drop our standards, no matter whether it’s training or whoever we are playing against.
“He always wants us to give 100 per cent and to do the right things. He pushes us to do that for ourselves, for him and for the club.
“For us it has been about not thinking too much about it and just focusing on the goals we have set, which is to keep winning.
“We want to raise the bar, keep winning and make sure it doesn’t stop now.”