Time for Parkhead men to have it all
In five years of dominance, the treble has eluded Celtic. Mark McGhee says they should be living up to the hype
‘ITHINK Celtic should be winning the treble every year’. The opening line from Mark McGhee, as he looked ahead to the William Hill Scottish Cup final between two of his former clubs, Celtic and Aberdeen, was perhaps also the most instructive.
There will be many who agree with him. Celtic are enjoying a period of domestic supremacy not seen since the days of Jock Stein, the extent of their financial and playing resources casting a large shadow on the rest. In the last five years especially, they have had no equals. And yet, they have not completed the domestic clean sweep even once during that period. Every season since Rangers’ implosion in 2012 downgraded Scottish football’s duopoly to a monopoly, the question has been asked: “Who can possibly stop Celtic this time?”
And each year a different answer has been forthcoming: St Mirren, Morton, Aberdeen, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Ross County and Rangers. All have eliminated Celtic from one or other of the two major cup competitions over the past five seasons, depriving the Parkhead club of that desperately sought-after first treble since 2001.
Opportunity knocks once more, however, and this time McGhee thinks the outcome will be different. Under the stewardship of Brendan Rodgers, Celtic have ascended to a higher plane. With the title and the League Cup already back in the cabinet, victory over Aberdeen at Hampden on May 27 would place Rodgers in the same stratosphere as Stein and Martin O’Neill, the only two Celtic managers to claim a treble.
Standing in their way are Aberdeen, who capitulated so tamely in the League Cup final in November, but who have also shown themselves to be the second-best side in the country for a third season in succession. McGhee rates them and their manager Derek McInnes very highly. To inflict another cup wound on Celtic, however, they will need to be at their best.
“I like the style in which Celtic are doing it, the quality they have shown and the organisation; everything about them is top drawer,” the Scotland assistant manager said. “Gordon [Strachan] and I had this conversation about how they would do in England in the Premier League and they would compete, I am sure about that. They are a cut above everyone else in Scotland. I think of all the teams in recent years they are as good as any.
“Aberdeen will have to be organised. They will have to choose their shape very carefully to give themselves a chance of getting close to the Celtic players and to stop Celtic from playing. They have to be aggressive and stand up to Celtic, come out looking as if they are here to win the game and not just for damage limitation.
“I don’t mean kicking and flying into people but they have to be prepared to be aggressive with the ball, with their running, be determined on the set plays, for and against, and show aggression in defending. All of that combined, and then their match-winners – Jonny Hayes, Niall McGinn, Adam Rooney or Kenny McLean – one of these boys, could pop up with something special on the day.”
A Celtic team filled with Scots playing well can only be good for the national team. Gordon Strachan started six in the World Cup qualifier against Slovenia and there is every chance the same number – if not more – could feature against England on June 10. McGhee thinks that is mostly down to the improvements Rodgers has been able to draw out of his players.
“I think they are fitter and that is not a cheap shot at the previous management,” he said. “The lads ave risen to the challenge that Brendan has set them, how he wants the team to play and the way he wants them to train. Whatever he has said to them, they are just energised. We want to play the best players available at any given time and if they happen to come from one team then we have got to make that decision.”
Kieran Tierney is perhaps the best of the lot. An attacking full-back who loves the art of defending, McGhee can’t help but admire the teenager who turns 20 in the week England head to Hampden.
“You see him walking into the dining room and he is like some wee boy who has just walked in off
In England, in the Premier League, they would compete, I am sure about that
the street, a wee boy with his little rucksack on,” McGhee laughed. “And then you see him on the training ground and he turns up, no jumper, shirt sleeves in the snow and the sleet and he’s not only a man but an Exocet missile.
“I think one of the things I like about him is that he is a defender first and foremost. He loves a tackle, loves a challenge. Modern defenders aren’t all like that, a lot of them want to prove what good footballers they are before anything. I watched Juventus the other night and you had [Giorgio] Chiellini and [Gigi] Buffon high-fiving after a block at the near post, or heading the ball away. They get such pleasure in defending, and the lad is like that as well. He doesn’t want the guy to beat him, to get past him. He wants to block it, he wants to win the ball back for his team. He is terrific.” Mark McGhee was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is the proud sponsor of the Scottish Cup.