WE WON’T TAKE ANY LIBERTIES

Rodgers vows to treat part-time Brechin with respect after his shock FA Cup exit at Liverpool

IF THEY pull it off, there will be no need to thumb through the record books or pull up a chair at the debating table. Berwick Rangers’ heroes of 1967 would be troubled no more. The same would apply to the Inverness side which went ballistic 18 years ago.

Priced up by some bookmakers as 66-1 shots today, Brechin City will unquestionably record the biggest shock since the Scottish Cup began in 1873 if they defeat Celtic in Glasgow this afternoon. Stranger things do happen, but not very often.

Facing the only side in Britain that has yet to win a league game, complacency appears to be as much a danger for Celtic as the part-timers from Angus.

Take it as read, though, that not a single fibre of Brendan Rodgers’ being will view today’s assignment as being tantamount to a free pass into the next round. Because he’ll always have Oldham.

Granted, the League One side his Liverpool team faced in the FA Cup five years ago this month were at home and had previous for taking big scalps in the competition.

But a side featuring Raheem Sterling, Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge were still expected to make mince meat out of a team in such poor form that potential replacements for then manager Paul Dickov dominated the build-up.

The outcome, a 3-2 victory for the Boundary Park side, not only pockmarked Rodgers’ first season at Anfield, but has served as a warning of the perils of presumption to this day.

‘I changed the team around quite a lot,’ he recalled. ‘It wasn’t the first game in the competition because we had beaten Mansfield away. Daniel Sturridge scored his first goal and then we played up in Oldham away from home. There were a lot of changes and we were punished for it.

‘But I don’t think about it or worry. You have got to just be ready and do your work. There can be no complacency.’

A cursory look at the Championship table might well engender just that. In 21 matches to date, Darren Dods’ men have recorded just four draws, all of which have come at home. Already 16 points adrift of second-bottom Falkirk, their stay in the second tier will inevitably be short-lived.

They are entitled to feel more than a little aggrieved, though, at having the kind of record that might once have grabbed the attention of producers on the Saint and Greavsie show.

St Mirren, Dunfermline and Inverness only denied them some festive cheer by edging them out by the odd goal. Sure, they’ve taken a few hidings along the way, but they have frequently felt as if someone up there just doesn’t like them.

‘I look at Brechin, and I have studied them and watched them, and see they are at the bottom of the league,’ added Rodgers (below).

‘I don’t think they have won a game and have four draws, but, when I look at the team, they are playing for the manager.

‘When you study them and watch them, it is not as if it is a team that is downing tools and not playing or not working for him.

‘They are a team that is part-time in what is predominantly a full-time league. The guys there are giving their all. It doesn’t mean we disrespect them. We expect to go into the game, work well and get through.’

Brechin can only hope Celtic’s Dubai recharge takes some time to become fully evident. This time last year, Rodgers’ men began a run of 10 straight victories by seeing off Albion Rovers.

Sluggish and leggy as a ninegame December schedule took its toll, the Celtic manager is hopeful a now customary week in the Persian Gulf will instigate a similar pattern. ‘When you think of the games we’ve had, we have a lot less games in the second half of the

season compared to what we played first half,’ he said.

‘So we pressed the refresh button in Dubai and we’re really excited now for the second part of the season.

‘We’ll definitely be a lot fresher. I think it’s natural, the players did brilliantly to get through to that point of the season and through December when it was demanding a real burden on your physicality and mentality.

‘But they came through it well, finished the league eight points ahead. ‘We played a large chunk of the games in that period and now we can recover and get ready for the second part, where we’ll play a lot less games.’

It’s not just physically that playing 38 games across four competitions between mid-July and late December takes its toll.

Such a schedule brings with it a mental drain, too. Managers and coaches need time to pause for breath.

‘I think everyone was in need of a break,’ added Rodgers.

‘To go through that period that we had from June was very demanding, of course from a physical and a mental perspective.

‘I think everyone was in need of that (break). Just that stimulus of going away and working in the heat and breaking the cycle really helps. Like I say, if I trace back a lot of our success, a lot of it is also with the spirit in the group and we were able to reinforce that when we were away.’

That success can be measured in more ways than just the fact the Scottish Cup is one of three trophies Rodgers is defending this season.

Upon being unveiled as Celtic manager last year, the Northern Irishman cited filling all corners of the stadium as being central to his ambitions.

News this week that the club had passed the one-million mark for home supporters at this point in the season for the first time in a decade was welcome.

‘I didn’t know that, but it’s nice. It’s great for the club,’ he said.

‘The whole thing when I came in was to hopefully create an environment and ambiance where the supporters would want to come and watch.

‘So that’s brilliant. That means we’re along the right lines and that’s how it should be.’