Bosshappy to put last year to rest
BRENDAN RODGERS wasn’t at Hampden a year ago when Celtic were beaten by Rangers, but he didn’t have to be anywhere near Mount Florida to know the despair felt by the losers.
That very night Ronny Deila offered his resignation to a board that already felt his time had come and gone, while the supporters, justifiably worried about where their team stood, were left to lick their wounds. As for the players, they looked lost.
For football supporters to enjoy the present when things are going well, and when they can look to the future with genuine hope, it’s good to take a look back to the times when things were not to rosy. It does make the good days even better.
Celtic supporters of a certain age have no recollection of Lou Macari, Michael Kelly and Cambuslang.
When some offered the opinion last April that it was a bad Celtic team, perhaps the worst they had seen, there was a temptation to ruffle their hair in a patronising manner and remind them of a period called the 1990s.
To suggest Celtic a year ago were in a mess is a nonsense. They were on their way to five titles in a row and while they were far from convincing champions, Deila’s team were miles ahead of the rest.
But none of that mattered when Tom Rogic sent his penalty over the bar giving Rangers their best day in years, and it doesn’t matter now, not after four derby wins in a season, two of them semifinals, and the Celtic manager was happy to make Hampden a place of joy again for the punters who had started to wonder whether their regular trip to the national stadium, were worth the bother.
“It [Sunday] was a brilliant team performance and I was delighted for the supporters as I know that 12 months ago it was a difficult day for them and the players as they walked out of Hampden,” Rodgers said.
“It was a hard one to take but 12 months on, you see the level the team are playing at and their confidence. Everything they did in the game was absolutely incredible. It was fully deserved and I’m delighted.
“For us, we have to perform to play. The performance levels are so important and it’s how we work and what’s always been good is the relationship between training and the game. I was really impressed by the composure of the players as that’s something we work on.”
Under Deila, Celtic lost three semi-finals, while Neil Lennon lost two cup finals and had plenty of bad days at Hampden, for so long a home from home for Celtic. Was the problem the stadium, or the big occasion?
Whatever the reason for what was a strange run of results at the old ground, three big wins and one trophy under Rodgers have dismissed chat of any sort of a jinx.
“Everyone talked about Hampden not being a very good place when I came there but we’ve been there three times and performed at a really top level and won all the games,” said Rodgers.
“We can see that we enjoy playing there, we have to keep enjoying it and that comes through playing well, performing and winning.”