I turned back on my stars two days before cup final in a fury as training was so bad .. I’ll never drop standards
He set standards from the moment he walked through the door – and insists his players only fell short of them once.
And it happened on Thursday, two days before Celtic were supposed to step out at Hampden and make history.
Even that didn’t faze Brendan Rodgers.
Af ter a ner ve- shredding 92nd- minute Cup Final win earned him a Treble at his first time of asking the Celtic boss revealed he had walked off the training ground 48 hours earlier.
His team have grown beyond recognition in the space of 10 months and 59 games at home and in Europe.
But his players are not beyond criticism – and Rodgers revealed he had to bring them down to earth with a bump to get the best from the yesterday.
Speaking at Hampden long after the ticker-tape had settled and the singing had drifted off down Aikenhead Road the Hoops boss contemplated how a historymaking season had formed since that horrific first-game defeat to Lincoln Red Imps in the Champions League qualifiers.
He shrugged: “It’s just been growth. What I’ve tried to bring in is a growth mindset in terms of never being satisfied.
“We’ve had one bad training session since I’ve been here – and that was on Thursday.
“The players will tell you that I cut it short. The standard, the level and the quality were not good enough for what we demand.
“Maybe there was something f loating around in their minds about how we had won the league.
“Maybe there was a wee celebratory feel ing. But the session was cut short. I walked in. That’s not how we work. So we set a standa rd r ight at the beginning that has only fallen short in one training session.
“In every game we have found a solution. That’s now 47 domestic games unbeaten so that’s an incredible achievement.”
The success has been achieved with a team Rodgers largely inherited with just one of his own recruits involved in yesterday’s Cup-winning side.
Rodgers said: “The players have bought in to how we want to work. We impose our way and the players improve.
“If you create an environment then 95 per cent of people will become better. The other five per cent you don’t want as they don’t want to learn.
“Thankfully I took over a group of players who were very keen, hungry and coachable.
“I added one or two bits to that to change the characteristics of the team to make it dynamic, fast, creative and unpredictable.”
Rodgers’ standards was tested to their maximum by Aberdeen yesterday – but ultimately Celtic still found a way.
And as Tom Rogic fired home the winner it was accompanied by a perfectly-timed lightning bolt flashing across the sky.
Rodgers laughed: “I’m glad it never hit Tom before his shot! Maybe the stars were aligned.
“I remember the centenary year for Celtic and there was a feeling about this season too.
“Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had to earn it and work hard. People wi l l write about history. On Thursday night we celebrated the great Lisbon Lions and what they achieved back in 1967 but today we had to make it.
“Nobody would write about it if we didn’t do it. We had to go out and do it and the players showed remarkable courage to go out and get the result.
“It’s been incredible. I couldn’t have written the script any better.
“It’s been a dream. I was born into Celtic and it’s a huge privilege to manage this club.
“Now you can write about it and ta lk about it , g ive a big congratulations to the players and supporters, because they’ve been amazing.”
Rodgers added: “I felt it was coming, the first half a was a bit broken – credit to Aberdeen for that, we couldn’t quite get our flow right. But I said at half-time we had to stay calm.
“They were playing a manmarking game and if you’re patient and keep moving the ball, eventually it becomes difficult when you’re the defending team.
“That’s what happened. The flow came, the passing was shorter, the movement was good and we created good chances.
“It still took us right to the end for the winner but it ’s an incredible feeling.”
Meanwhile, the Hoops will be back in the saddle in four weeks for the Champions League qualifiers on July 11.
Brendan said: “There’s a lot still to achieve. But I need a rest – I’m tired! I need to refresh.
“Then we’ll sit down again in the summer and work out what we want to do next year.
“But the beauty of it is that we’ve set a way of working and a mindset and we’ll look to go again next year. We want to develop in European football. This season was about learning and we can improve.
“You always have to be careful as a coach, manager, player.
“You do wel l and you can create a rod for your own back. I don’t want it to be that way.
“We might lose some games but we can improve. We might not w in everything but we can progress. That is the key.”