Don’t brand Sinclair a diver, pleads Rodgers in cup final penalty row
● Celtic boss backs winger and claims his side should get more spot-kicks
Brendan Rodgers has insisted Scott Sinclair does not deserve to earn a reputation for diving as the fallout from Sunday’s Betfred Cup final continues.
The Celtic winger has been lambasted for the manner in which he fell to the turf in securing the Scottish champions the penalty kick which wrapped up their 2-0 win over Motherwell at Hampden.
Even former Celtic players Chris Sutton and Neil Lennon have joined the chorus of disapproval directed at Sinclair, who went down after receiving the faintest of touches in a challenge from Motherwell defender Cedric Kipre.
With Celtic already leading 1-0 through James Forrest’s goal, referee Craig Thomson pointed to the spot and showed Kipre a straight red card. Moussa Dembele converted the penalty to give Celtic a fourth consecutive domestic trophy win under Rodgers but much of the aftermath has been dominated by the debate over Sinclair’s actions.
The 28-year-old also attracted criticism in an earlier round of the Betfred Cup when he tumbled under a challenge from Dundee defender Jack Hendry for the penalty which broke the deadlock in Celtic’s 4-0 win at Dens Park.
But Rodgers mounted a robust defence of Sinclair and says it was the player’s pace and game intelligence, rather than any hint of unsporting behaviour, which justified the penalty decision on Sunday.
“I’ve seen it again, it’s a definite penalty,” said Rodgers. “There was contact. I think Scott was clever, there’s no doubt, but I think probably what the referee is looking at is there was no intent (from the defender) for the ball and I think that was enough to award the penalty. Scott is not a diver. He is so fast and Kipre’s intent was to pull him back. So even if he doesn’t go down, he pulls him and it’s a penalty.”
It was the third penalty Celtic have been awarded this season, all of which have been successfully converted. Last season, they had 18 penalties and scored 16 of them. Rodgers has expressed his surprise, however, that the tally of spot-kicks for his team is not even higher.
“We probably get fewer penalties than I would expect us to get for the number of times that we arrive in the opposition’s penalty area,” added the Celtic manager.
“Scott has alway done that, get into the box. You can trace it back to when he was with me at Swansea and we got a lot of penalties. Why? Because we had so many players in that area, attacking and being aggressive in the final third.
“It was the same when I was at Liverpool, the way we played, and it’s the same here at Celtic but I don’t think we get so many penalties.”
BRENDAN RODGERS “Scott is not a diver. He is so fast and Kipre’s intent was to pull him back”
If history is indeed written by the victors, then Brendan Rodgers already appears assured of a special chapter in the annals of Scottish football.
With his current direction of travel as Celtic manager, he is passing domestic landmarks at a breathless pace, which makes comparisons with his predecessors difficult to quantify.
The first man since Jock Stein to win four consecutive domestic trophies at the helm of the club, Rodgers wants the standards he is setting at the Scottish champions to carry a resonance which lasts long after his tenure comes to an end.
He remains dismissive of suggestions he will ever become bored of the relentless level of success he enjoys at Celtic, which is set against a backdrop of increasing scepticism, mostly from Englishbased observers of the former Liverpool manager’s career, that the overall standard of Scottish football diminishes his achievements.
Rodgers refuses to concern himself with those perceptions. Instead, he insists his focus will remain on ensuring the players currently under his command extend an era of domination which will be remembered with awe many years from now.
“I’ll always have a cause for which the players stay hungry to fight for,” said Rodgers as he reflected on Sunday’s Betfred Cup final win over Motherwell.
“So whenever we move on and pass the ball to someone else at Celtic, we’ve left a legacy that will echo way beyond our time here. For that, the actions of today mean you have to win.
“I’ve told the players we are limited in our time here. This is a really special football club, so we have a responsibility to honour the great history of Celtic, what they’ve won before and add to it while we are here.
“So those are the messages we give to the players emotionally, to ensure that every game, every cup final, we fight for our lives. When we are long gone, it will be spoken about – so create it while you’re here.”
Already on a record run of 65 unbeaten domestic fixtures, which encompassed last season’s unprecedented “Invincible” treble, few would bet against Rodgers becoming the first manager to win backto-back clean sweeps of all three pieces of major Scottish silverware.
Even that would probably only earn him negligible credit in the eyes of those pundits who contrast Celtic’s domestic domination with their experiences in the group stage of the Champions League where they have now suffered several heavy and chastening defeats.
Rodgers defiantly maintains that is a non-issue for him, instead underlining once again the high degree of personal and professional satisfaction his move to Celtic has given him. He said: “I don’t really think about that other stuff, to be honest.
“This is my fifth job as a manager now. I always say happiness and energy are the two things you need. There’s always a challenge at Celtic and there always will be, whoever is in charge here.
“For me, I’m very happy in my professional life. I’m developingplayers,ilovethatsideof the game. I have a look at England now and I see how a manager can very quickly be out of his job and maybe not have the time to improve players.
“That’s my life, that’s what I’ve always done. I enjoy that side of it but I also enjoy the pressure of managing a big club. It feels natural for me to do that and Celtic’s a huge club.
“It’s one where I’m happy, I’ve got an energy. I’m 44 so I’ve got a long way to go but I don’t even think of that, as long as I’m working well with the club and the club believe in me, the supporters believe in me, then I’m obviously very happy to be here.
“I tend now, with experience, to listen less and read less [about what is said about me]. Everyone has an opinion now and, for me, as long as I’m happy that’s all that matters to me.
“I managed Swansea City in the Premier League, I loved it, enjoyed it, got a promotion with them, amazing. I worked at one of the great clubs in Liverpool and went closer than anyone to a title in the Premier League.
“So I’ve been at that level. I’m now up here and genuinely love my life. What people think doesn’t really concern me, to be honest. I know the demands of Celtic, I know the pressures and my challenge is to dominate domestically and qualify for the Champions League.
“Now we’re qualifying for Champions League, we’re expectedtotakeonthesesuper clubs which is so, so tough. I’ll always put myself out there to challenge that and that’s how I’ve always been. I’ve always been optimistic for the club.
“It’s very simple, really – you keep it simple and you do the work. There’s no rocket science in it. You work hard, you find a cause to fight for and you ensure that everyone is pulling in the same direction for that. When I came in, there was a vision that I was able to bring in, that we have to be one club in order to achieve it. So far for these first 18 months, it’s been special.”
“As long as I’m working well with the club and club believe in me, the supporters believe in me, then I’m obviously very happy to be here”
BRENDAN RODGERS