Brendan Rodgers isn’t a man who is going to hold back in asserting how he perceives Celtic have performed this season after winning the Scottish Premiership title.
The Bhoys manager has shouldered some intense criticism from the very first days of his return to the club.
Pundits questioned his relationship with the board after a lacklustre transfer window, fans worried about inconsistent performances and Rodgers is quite right to now take a victory lap in the wake of becoming champions again.
He’s staying calm and measured but there’s little doubt he is letting everyone know that he feels his team deserved more credit throughout the course of the campaign.
In a media conference today, he acknowledged taking “satisfaction” from proving people wrong and noted his biggest surprise about all the noise surrounding the club.
Brendan Rodgers on Celtic criticism this season
He said [Clyde 1]: “I’m not made of wood. We all have feelings and we’re all built in different ways. I feel I can deal with pressure and those situations. But it still doesn’t make you immune to everything. What experience has given me is not to become too emotional with words.
“I can trace back to August when the headlines were that I was under massive pressure. This was on the 26th of August and it’s continued right the way through. I had to show mental strength like the team has had to do.
“Eventually, the work that we do and the processes that we have in place have come through in the end. It’s been a challenging season in ways that I didn’t think it was going to be. I knew it was going to be a little bit awkward.
“I suppose it’s satisfying, is what you would say. I feel very satisfied with the work we’ve been able to do. It’s surprising a little that so many people didn’t see what was happening around the team. That was the biggest surprise for me, knowing how my teams operate and how they play, how they attack. It’s not a full-out attack.
“I tend to think of my teams like a top boxer. A top boxer isn’t throwing punches all the time. He needs to put his guard up now and again. I think my teams are reflective of that. They attack, they’re aggressive, they score goals, and they try to defend well.
“Clearly there was a reason and a purpose as to why it wasn’t functioning quite the same. It certainly wasn’t that I had lost the hunger, or was going through the motions, or hadn’t the stomach for the fight. So it’s been very satisfying.”
Rodgers cycles back to address early-season worries
It’s interesting to hear Rodgers reference August 26th. That was after drawing with St Johnstone 0-0 in the Scottish Premiership, days after losing to Kilmarnock in the Scottish League Cup.
That did feel like a very negative Celtic week, especially with the backdrop of a poor transfer window drawing to a close.
Boos rang out at Celtic Park for example and pundits went into overdrive about Rodgers’ messaging at the club.
Thankfully Rodgers did manage to earn his money and pull everyone together, with some hiccups, and deliver the success we all crave. That will be the lasting memory of this season – not the early grumbling.