Charlie’s a Rover now, but he’s still just a Bhoy at heart
CHARLIE MULGREW wouldn’t be human if the green- eyed monster hadn’t visited him as Celtic have closed in on the title, the Treble and what would be a remarkable unbeaten domestic campaign.
A lifelong fan of the Hoops, the 31-yearold was a regular in the side between 2010 and 2016 and played a leading role in their last five Premiership successes.
However, when he refused to re-sign on reduced terms last year, his contract was allowed to run out.
Brendan Rodgers, then new to the club, gave him another chance to shine when offering him training facilities at Lennoxtown over the summer.
It was a professional kindness and one which did indeed help him land a new deal – just not the one he was expecting.
“As far as Celtic goes, I think it was just one of those things,” said the versatile Scotland internationalist.
“I came in for a few weeks and can’t thank the manager enough.
“I can’t speak too highly of him. Brendan really was a different class.
“The way he mixed up training and the demands he made every single day, it was exactly what you would expect of a top manager.
“He is decisive and I think the boys all know that. It keeps them on their toes.
“I am delighted how well things have worked out for him.
“As for me, I trained as hard as I could every day. But it just didn’t happen.
“Then a chance came for me to go
down south with Blackburn Rovers and that was it really.
“I am still a Celtic fan and my boy is Celtic mad,” Mulgrew added.
“We’re not far from the City of Manchester Stadium. So we went to the Champions League game there.
“They were probably the better team that night.
“They were away from home against a really good team. Yet they kept the ball really well.
“The 1-1 draw had my youngster jumping about the place. I was impressed, rather than surprised, as I know the boys well and I knew the quality was there.”
Quality which, as the extended unbeaten run suggests, is married with character.
“It would be unbelievable if they could finish the season without a single domestic defeat,” said Mulgrew. “It is not easy because everyone now wants to be the side who beats them.
“There is a big pressure and it is building on them. I hope they do it, though.”
Not least because of the potential spinoff benefits for the national team.
The Scotland side that started against Slovenia had six Celts: Scott Brown, Craig Gordon, Kieran Tierney, James Forrest, Leigh Griffiths and the debutant – and man of the match – Stuart Armstrong.
Barring injury or sudden loss of form it is likely to be a very similar story when they entertain the Auld Enemy, England, at Hampden on June 10.
The logic of playing footballers who are feeling good about themselves, laid out by Gordon Strachan in the run-up to the win over Slovenia, is as much common sense as football sense. And if he can’t be beside his old friends at club level any more, Mulgrew is determined to do everything he can to ensure he is at their side for the next step in Scotland’s bid to reach the 2018 World Cup Finals.
“The English Championship finishes on May 7, so I will need to keep myself ticking over, which I do anyway,” he said.
“I will wait until then and just take it from there.
“I will just need to get a game for my local pub team in Kirky (Kirkintilloch).”
A few Sunday amateur players – and certainly their coaches – would drink to that unlikely prospect.
Whether Gordon Strachan, in his pursuit of a winning Celtic connection for the national team, or Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray – another with a link to the Hoops – would be quite so enthusiastic is another matter entirely.