UNCHARTED TERRITORY
Sinclair sets his sights on unique ‘Invincible Treble’ that could crown his very first cup final appearance
AN Invincible Treble. A storming achievement by anyone’s standards but utterly unique in the context of Scottish football and, by extension, the history of Celtic Football Club. Jock Stein and Martin O’Neill rank as the only Parkhead managers to have achieved a clean sweep of domestic honours and, if he can lift the Scottish Cup next weekend, Brendan Rodgers will join their ranks.
Scott Sinclair is a newcomer to the Celtic story but has learned enough over the past season to know of the achievements of the likes of the Lisbon Lions and, much later, the powerful team spearheaded by Henrik Larsson at the start of the Millennium.
Rodgers’ team are in no way close to eclipsing the European Cup triumph of 1967 but it’s fitting that they could create their own piece of history in the week the Lions celebrate their 50th anniversary.
Two hurdles remain. First they must emerge unscathed from today’s Premiership finale against Hearts, which shouldn’t be too tall an order given both the feeble form of Ian Cathro’s team and the fact a capacity crowd will be in situ to watch the league trophy being hoisted by Scott Brown. Next weekend comes the Scottish Cup Final against Aberdeen, the country’s second best team and runners-up in both the league and League Cup this season.
Sinclair isn’t taking success for granted but he’s close enough to contemplate the magnitude of what this team stands to achieve over the next seven days.
He said: ‘It hasn’t been done, an invincible Treble, which means something is working in this team and with this manager.
‘We can go back years and talk about the Larssons and all these big names and they didn’t even do it. So it would be a massive achievement, but we haven’t done it yet.
‘We need to keep going for these next two games and hopefully I will be talking to you guys about the fact we have made history.’
Today confirmed as the Scottish Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year, Sinclair and his 25 goals have been crucial to Celtic’s imperious season.
After completing his £3.5million transfer the previous evening, he was named on the bench for the opening league game of the season which, in a nice piece of symmetry, came against Hearts at Tynecastle.
Sent on with the score locked at 1-1, Sinclair announced his arrival in Scottish football by applying the finishing touch to Leigh Griffiths’ low cross to score a goal that set the tone for Celtic’s relentless domestic campaign.
Yet, for all his talent and a CV that features spells at Chelsea, Swansea, Manchester City and Aston Villa, the 28-year-old has never participated in a cup final.
He did, of course, score a memorable Wembley hat-trick for Rodgers’ Swansea in 2011 but for all the glory of taking the Welsh club to the Premier League, the play-off final doesn’t quite qualify.
Having missed out on FA Cup selection with City in 2013 and Villa in 2015, he was injured when Celtic beat the Dons to lift the League Cup at Hampden back in November. This, he hopes, will be fourth time lucky.
‘I wasn’t there when City played Wigan and when it came to the FA Cup Final for Villa against Arsenal I knew I wasn’t playing. I’d played a couple of games leading up to it but sometimes you just know,’ he explained.
‘That game with Swansea was so long ago and is the only sort of big day I’ve been involved in, so it hurt to miss out again. I enjoyed the day anyway because I had played a massive part in the lead-up to the final but you always want to play.’
Having rediscovered his rhythm at Celtic and even been spoken of in international terms by Rodgers, there is a school of thought that Sinclair might wish to have another crack at the game down south.
Given the fact he took a pay cut to move north, there is some financial logic in that view but it also ignores the degree of personal contentment he has enjoyed since moving to Glasgow.
Asked if he would recommend a similar move to any other players enjoying a career nourishment, Sinclair responded: ‘It depends on the player’s mentality. On a personal note, I wanted to come and play
football and enjoy it again. Not everyone has that mentality. You pick up nice money down there and people have nice lives. It depends on what type of person you are.
‘I always knew that Celtic was a massive club. But the intensity of playing in front of 60,000, that’s when it really hits you. You think: “Wow, this is something special”.
‘That brings a pressure. Up here we are the best team and we are under pressure to win every game. That’s a good pressure.
‘I am in no rush to move on. This is the happiest time of my career so far, I can honestly say that, so I don’t need to be looking too far in the future.
‘I concentrate on coming in with a smile on my face and looking forward to playing in the games.’