BRENDAN HAS TO PINCH HIMSELF

BRENDAN RODGERS admits winning a historic double Treble as Celtic boss has exceeded his wildest dreams. Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Motherwell in the Scottish Cup final made it six trophies from six. And Rodgers admits he could never have envisaged two seasons of unprecedented domestic dominance when he took charge of the Parkhead club in May 2016. ‘You could never imagine it could go as well as it has,’ he admitted. ‘From the first day I walked in to the club, it’s been amazing. ‘It’s always complex, it’s never as easy as it seems when you win, a lot of stuff goes on behind the scenes, a lot of work. The brilliant staff and the club has really supported me in my time here, strategically. ‘All the interests are aligned at the club and that allows me to work in confidence. But to think we’d be standing here two years later having created history, no, I’d be lying if I thought that.’ First-half goals from Callum McGregor and Olivier Ntcham quelled Motherwell’s resistance. Favourites to become the first team to complete back-to-back clean sweeps, Rodgers said the motivation to win was clear from the start. ‘You’ve always got to find a story, find a way to motivate,’ he admitted. ‘I said to the players that they woke up on Saturday morning with a moment to create history. ‘You don’t get many times like that in your life. So go and take it and make sure it can live with you forever. ‘Because if you don’t, then you’ll be lying on a sunbed in a couple of weeks’ time and it won’t flipping taste nice! Rodgers held talks with the agent of £8million-rated loan star Odsonne Edouard yesterday. Conceding that neither he nor his team can afford to rest on what they have already achieved, the Northern Irishman says the job of managing Celtic doesn’t allow it. ‘I need to push even harder now next year in relation to developing the players here first and foremost,’ he said. ‘And then bringing in players who can make a difference. It’s a constant need to improve.’