Griffiths off the hook after spat with boss

perceived as the beginning of the end for Griffiths. “He knows there’s a line. If I thought there was something more sinister I’d cut it straight away. Make no bones about it.

“He is very much part of what we are doing here. He’s a wonderfully talented boy, and for me it’s about helping him mature.

“I’d a message from Leigh at seven o’clock on Friday morning.

“He just wants to show me and the supporters because he’s been out a lot of the time that he can be fit and playing.

“Unfortunately for him, it’s my job to protect the team and the whole group – not just one player – in order for us to succeed.

“He understands that totally now. He was apologetic but like I said to him it’s gone. Let it go.”

Rodgers also insisted he is sympathetic to why the player reacted as he did.

“I totally understand where he was at,” he said. “It has been a difficult season for him in terms on injury and illness.

“He hasn’t trained as much as he would have wanted to and you think last year all the goals and he was out there every week, but this year has been a bit more difficult for him.

“When he is in the team he wants to play every minute of every game to show his worth and the point I was re-iterating to him this morning is that he is such a big part of my thinking here.

“What he didn’t realise in his thinking was the reason for taking him off.

“He is probably thinking that he wasn’t playing well enough – he was fantastic again.

“But the idea was to give him a rest knowing that he will start at the weekend and get some game time in and be totally ready for the game against Aberdeen.”

And Rodgers has assured Griffiths that there will be no grudge held against him.

“This is about a unified group. Whatever you feel you keep it inside the changing room,” he explained.

“But if I’d his little head I’d be thinking ‘maybe I didn’t play and I’m trying to show my manager something.

“This about having to accept these kind of scenarios because you can’t play every minute of every game.”

AYEAR AGO today Brendan Rodgers signed the papers, ordered the champagne in and kicked back to drink in a scenic Majorcan view.

That contract has been upgraded to a four-year one and while the view might not be a Spanish coastline, there is scarcely a cloud on the horizon.

You can be sure there will be champagne on tap on Sunday evening as Celtic take formal reception of the league title.

The potential is there for a Treble while and becoming Invincibles seems like a formality. Rodgers has been in anything but holiday mode.

The Celtic manager has put Celtic back on the map again, although he joked that he had a bit of a hard sell convincing his fiancee about a move to a club she had never heard of.

“It all came through, it got signed,” smiled Rodgers, who was named Ladbrokes Manager of the Year yesterday as well as the Scottish Football Writers Manager of the Year.

“I was in Majorca with my fiancee, Charlotte, overlooking Port Adriano in Majorca and we celebrated with some champagne. Charlotte hasn’t ever been into football so she hadn’t really heard of Celtic. But she loves it here.”

And Rodgers has revealed that the club has surpassed his own expectations of what the role would bring.

“It has been better,” he said. “I have to say. I never thought I could be this happy – in everything really. I have got great relations with the directors, a great working relationship and a real respect for Peter [Lawwell].

“On a daily basis we communicate. They have given me freedom to work and as a coach in the modern game it is very hard to get that.

“They offered me the ability to create and be the architect of the club and they have been true to their word. Absolutely amazing. I have constant feedback from Dermot [Desmond].

“I see the board regularly. I operate with Peter, it’s very open, it’s very professional. Then I have got amazing staff.

“When came here I knew what it was and I was very happy to take it and happy to live with that pressure because it’s a huge expectation at a club like this.

“There is always a demand on clubs like us here. But I think I am built for this type of challenge.

“The finances involved in the Premier League, and the challenge there, is huge. But it’s about being happy and I’ve found a real happiness here. I could go elsewhere and be financially a lot better off.

“But I’ve learned through time and experience that it’s more than that. I’ve done well in my life, I’ve been lucky, and for me it’s about happiness.

“If you have that then that happiness give you energy. Then you’ll stay longer and be more consistent, hopefully in a happier life.”

Desmond has been criticised by supporters at times for being an absentee landlord, but it is a view that Rodgers was keen to put right, insisting that the majority shareholder has the club firmly at the forefront of his thoughts.

“Dermot wakes up in the morning and thinks of Celtic, he looks at everything Celtic, he goes to bed at night, everything Celtic,” said the Hoops manager.

“He will be in contact with me on a fairly regular basis. It might only be three or four lines in a text offering encouragement and support, it might be a meeting in London, it might be a phone call, but it is constant.

“There is a real, real trust to it. I can’t speak highly enough of them and if there is any reassurance that the supporters ever needed from one of their own then I will tell them.

“These are people who have an incredible commitment to this club and they are really passionate about the club moving forward.”

MEANWHILE, Celtic’s old Barrowfield training ground may seem a world away from the glamour and intrigue of the Champions League.

But it is where Rodgers believed he can help elevate the club into the next tier of European football. The Celtic manager spent an evening at the training facility this week with primary school kids, ensuring no stone is left unturned when it comes to getting everything turned constant progression.

Breaking the glass ceiling in Europe is ultimately where Celtic will garner not only respect but the financial rewards that will enable them to continue their upward trajectory. But it is not always in the transfer market where that will happen.

“It’s a huge task and it’s a huge ask,” said Rodgers. “The budgets are night and day different. The revenue streams are very, very difficult, but we have to push. We have to do our very best. It’s