Cameron Carter-Vickers has admitted he was delighted to end a frustrating season on a huge high by helping Celtic to do the double - and then revealed the secret of the Parkhead club’s success.
Centre-half Carter-Vickers was outstanding in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup final against Rangers at Hampden on Saturday as the Parkhead club ran out narrow 1-0 winners over their city rivals.
The United States internationalist spent long spells our injured during the 2023/24 campaign and he confessed it was difficult to watch his team mates struggle from the sidelines.
However, the former Spurs man was always confident that Celtic would come good and land more silverware because of the work rate that their manager Brendan Rodgers insists on.
“The beginning part of the season was frustrating for me,” he said. “I want to be out there playing and helping the team as much as I can.
“But I always knew what I had wasn’t something that was going to keep me out forever. I just kept working and preparing so that whenever I did come back into the team I could help out. Luckily enough I have done that.
“It hasn’t been plain sailing all season, but I think at all times we have stayed cool and calm and kept working. And I think if you do that you usually get your rewards at the end.
“Obviously people say stuff like that [Celtic know how to win], but I actually think it’s a lot more simple than that.
“For us it’s about working hard consistently. If you do that over a long period of time you usually reap the rewards. And I feel like we have done that this season.”
The defender added: “Saturday was quite cagey stuff, I don’t think either team played great football. But I think we believe in each other as a group and we know we’ll keep working right to the end. Luckily enough for us we got the goal.
“I thought we defended our box well as a team. We limited their chances as much as we could. We didn’t create many chances ourselves. But we managed to take the big one when it came along.”
Carter-Vickers is hopeful that Norwich city loanee Adam Idah, who netted the winner in the final minute of regulation time, will return to Parkhead next season.
“He’s done great,” he said. “Especially when he first came in. He scored a lot of big goals late on, away at Motherwell, Hibs as well. This was a great moment for him. He’s a great guy as well, everyone loves being around him.
“He’s proved over the last six months or so that he can help the team. He’s a good guy to have around. I have been here three seasons now and we always tend to sign a lot of players.
“That’s just part of it. Since I have been here every player we have signed has come here with the right attitude and tried to help the team as much as they can. That’s all you’re looking for.”
Carter-Vickers has been named in the 27 man United States preparatory training squad for the Copa America and the Celtic defender confessed he is keen to be involved in tournament next month.
“We have two friendlies before the Copa America,” he said. “The squad has been announced for the friendlies and I think they might make a few cuts before the tournament squad. Hopefully I am in the squad.”
