BRENDAN RODGERS

Celtic boss aims for 50-point title win

BRENDAN RODGERS has further turned up the heat on Rangers by revealing his ambition to win the Premiership title – by 50 points!

After 24 matches, Celtic are already 27 clear of the Light Blues and Aberdeen, with the latter holding a game in hand.

However while that may already be an insurmountable advantage, the Hoops boss insists he won’t be satisfied until his side’s lead is nearly twice as commanding.

“Since coming to the club all I and my staff have tried to do so is see if we could raise the bar,” said Rodgers, whose team have won their last 24 domestic matches in a row.

“Can we win it? And if we can, can we win in the best possible way?

“Say you look at the situation and come to the conclusion you can save money and win the league by 10 points or can you spend money and win by 30?

“Well, I want to win by 50, if I can.

“It’s about standards, about being the best you can – and the players can see what I was talking about in that moment back at the start and my presentation to them.

“Of the importance of improvement, having the right working mentality, being relentless and then seeing where it can get you.

“About setting standards, not becoming complacent.

“Celtic is a winning club. But there are two ways to win – either you just do enough and win or you do everything you can to win the very best way you can.

“My way is to entertain the supporters, make people enjoy it, make the players enjoy their work, and win as often as you can.

“It is a collective effort. The manager is the architect. You can’t do absolutely everything and you are crazy if you think you can.

“You need good people around you and I have brilliant coaches around me. Great staff, good people and a board with so much expertise I can tap into.”

While the fans who witnessed Celtic’s 6-0 demolition of Inverness Caley Thistle in the Scottish Cup yesterday would have had little room for complaint, the manager still sees room for improvement.

“Our attacking play was fantastic, we got real penetration at the top of the field and were very incisive,” he said.

“The two wingers were outstanding and the captain was brilliant again as well. The goal he scored, he was dumped on the floor earlier in the move but still gets up and scores with a great finish.

“It was just a very good performance and I still feel we’ll get better as the season goes on.”