STYLE COUNCIL OF OUR OWN
If we can play with even half of the flair that Lions and Tommy did, we’ll be doing well, says Rodgers
THERE are different ways to honour a memory. Sometimes it is done through words. Many evocative and emotional ones have been used this week to reflect upon the life of a Celtic great.
Tommy Gemmell’s passing at the age of 73, just a few days after it was confirmed that Billy McNeill is suffering from dementia, has added further poignancy to the approaching 50th anniversary of the Lisbon Lions’ triumph.
At Lennoxtown yesterday, Brendan Rodgers spoke with reverence about the lasting inspiration he draws from the club’s finest-ever team. He believes, however, that the most profound tribute he can pay to Gemmell and the Lions extends far beyond words.
For the Celtic manager, striving to ensure his Treble-chasing side play with a similar spirit is a guiding principle.
‘I think that’s the biggest honour we can pay them on the 50th anniversary,’ insisted Rodgers, ahead of tomorrow’s Scottish Cup quarter-final against St Mirren. ‘I think Tommy’s European Cup goal was a great example of the Celtic team of that time.
‘The right-back Jim Craig crossed it, and the left-back finished it. That tells you the real attacking intent of the team.
‘Tommy was a right-back who then moved across to left-back, so he was world-class in two positions.
‘The greatest honour we can give that team is to play the Celtic way, which was Tommy’s way and is our way of working.
‘Hopefully we can entertain and, if we can entertain even half the way they did, then the Celtic fans I’m sure can accept that.’
Of course, Jock Stein’s team won the first of two Trebles — plus the Glasgow Cup — to sit alongside the European Cup in 1967.
Martin O’Neill is the only other Celtic manager to have completed a domestic clean sweep in the intervening decades.
Rodgers admits marking a half-century since the Lions by adding the Scottish Cup to the already-claimed League Cup and inevitable Premiership title would be incredibly fitting.
He does not, however, feel the historical significance adds more pressure to his shoulders.
‘Not really,’ he said. ‘This is always what you have to be careful of.
‘You have to park respect, honour, and emotion. Professional emotion. With these types of things, the emotion can take over, and then you start to not perform and, when your performances are affected, then anything can happen.
‘We’re trying to park the two. I said it in my first day here that the biggest respect that I can give this club is getting these stands full again and getting that Lisbon Lions Stand full again.
‘I’ve never veered from that, but there’s a process to that and, in my experience, the more emotional it gets, even though you have to tap into that emotion, it has to be controlled.
‘I don’t feel any pressure to deliver. The pressure is every day to be the best we can be but, of course, it would be a huge honour to do it.’
Rodgers was late home on Wednesday night after Celtic’s 4-0 victory in Inverness took them 27 points clear of Aberdeen at the Premiership summit.
Waking the following morning to learn of Gemmell’s death provided an emotional counterpoint to his earlier joy.
‘It was a real sadness for the club because we have lost one of the truly great footballers in the history of Celtic,’ added the 44-year-old.
‘I never had the good fortune to meet Tommy but, if he is like the other Lions that I have come across, I am sure that humility would have shone through. He was an iconic player.
‘Everyone talks about the modern full-back and how they get forward, but he was doing that in the 60s.
‘It was guys like Tommy and the Lions who really set this club on the pathway to what it is as one of the world’s biggest clubs. Without him and the others, we wouldn’t be sat where we are today.’
Where Celtic sit today is a position of utter dominance. But that brings criticisms of its own.
Earlier this week, former Chelsea defender Jason Cundy described the standard of the top flight in Scotland as ‘embarrassing’. The
Talksport radio presenter also claimed Celtic would struggle to beat Stoke City were they in the English Premier League and questioned the extent of the Parkhead club’s support.
Rodgers, a former youth coach at Stamford Bridge, dismissed Cundy’s outspoken viewpoint.
‘I know Jason, I worked with him at Chelsea, so I know what he is like,’ responded Rodgers. ‘He has to create a programme which stimulates conversation.
‘It is ignorance really, with all due respect. It’s a lack of knowledge of football. The footballing world is more than the Premier League. ‘But if your eyes are only on one league, then you tend to ignore what is happening around that.
‘He is a good boy, Jason. He will always be welcome to Celtic Park. He would be surprised, I am sure.’
Rodgers has selection options for the visit of St Mirren tomorrow but it remains to be seen whether Leigh Griffiths will gain any game-time.
Last season’s Player of the Year was involved in a Twitter exchange yesterday with a fan who claimed his time at Celtic was up.
Rodgers declined to read too much into it and explained why Griffiths didn’t play in Inverness.
‘Leigh was sick on Monday but travelled with us on Tuesday,’ he said. ‘I am not contracted to pick any one player, just the best team.
‘I am not interested in social media whatsoever. I don’t use it. But if it starts to affect my team then, of course, I will intervene.’
The right-back crossed for the left-back to score. That just sums it all up