Who would you bet on to take Hampden honours?
If we win today’s Final, we won’t be having a party. It will be quiet
Memories of a miserable Motherwell hangover will take the fizz out of Celtic’s partying – if they win the Betfred Cup Final today.
Two years ago, the Hoops picked up the first of their halfdozen haul of domestic trophies under Brendan Rodgers, with a 3-0 win over Aberdeen.
And with the style of the victory matching the substance of their success in the showpiece, the manager allowed his players to forget the usual restrictions on alcohol intake, and let their hair down with a post-final party. The Celtic manager now believes that was a mistake.
“There was a celebration after our win two years ago. The problem was a week later, we went to Motherwell and at half– time were 2-0 down,” Rodgers recalled. “We came back and won 4-3. But did that tell me something? Absolutely.
“It won’t happen again. Absolutely not. “We have another game down at Motherwell on Wednesday, so if we win the Final, we won’t have a party. It will be quiet.
“I think the boys know me well enough now. I treat them like adults, they are not kids with me. I treat them as men and we know when these little busy times are. “When you are playing so many games, your body is so important. You have to look after it.
“But let’s get the job done at the weekend and get another trophy.
“We’ll get a period in January where we can reflect on everything if we need to, and enjoy it as we can.”
The fact his players dipped postFinal in 2016 was, Rodgers reckons, all the more noticeable because of their performance on the big day.
“That day, we really owned the pitch,” the 45-year-old continued.
“The spotlight was on us because we had won the semifinal well, and then were in a Final and played how we wanted to play.
“We were exciting with the ball and in our attacking, and didn’t concede by being aggressive defensively. For me, it is important to play well. “What you win is what we’ll be judged on at the end of it, but that’s never solely been my own measure. “I know that for some managers winning is everything, absolutely. It wouldn’t give me the satisfaction. “From time to time, you can win and maybe not play so well, I get that. But over the course of time, I take greater joy on seeing the football and the level that we play.
“If it was just about the winning, it wouldn’t fulfil me, it just wouldn’t.”
Rodgers says he knew he wasn’t going to be an ends-justifies-themeans manager a decade ago, back when he was in charge of Watford.
He said: “It was my first job. We had a fantastic result, I remember. Against Roberto Martinez’s Swansea.
“They were playing really well at the time, had drawn with Fulham in the FA Cup and then we were playing them in midweek.
“It was at Vicarage Road and we won 2-0.
“Everyone was on a high after the game – Malky Mackay, Sean Dyche, Mark Warburton (left) and Frank Lampard senior.
“They were all on such a high but I was flat because, yes we had won the game, but not how I wanted us to win.
“I think that told me really early on in my career as a manager that it’s going to be more than just winning that matters to me.
“Watford’s win over Fulham got performance of the week. But, nah, I like my teams to win with a certain identity, while knowing that you can’t do it all the time. “There have been games we have had to dig results out, tough it out, so I get all that.
“I like my teams to play with a certain idea. That was what drew me to coaching, and that for me is what coaching is – that relationship between the training and the game.
“If you can get that fusion, that’s what makes me happy.
“This Celtic team is great because it is full of players we have developed or helped develop. It gives the team its identity.
“I am talking the likes of Callum Mcgregor, James Forrest, Kieran Tierney and Ryan Christie. “That’s what gives me joy. “Whenever I meet those boys later on in life, then they can look me in the eye and say: ‘He really helped me to develop as a player’.”