There were some things that surprised Paul Lambert during the season just past, and some things that didn’t.
For instance, the former Celtic midfielder was taken aback that anyone would doubt that manager Brendan Rodgers knew what he was doing. He was not shocked in the slightest – and was vindicated in his faith in his old club’s manager - when Rodgers and his team eventually delivered a league and Scottish Cup double.
Throughout the season, even during those stormy periods where Celtic had allowed Rangers to not only claw themselves back into contention in the title race, but take pole position, Lambert remained calm and consistent in his backing for Rodgers.
Back in December, following defeats to Kilmarnock and Hearts, Lambert told Herald Sport that talk of a Celtic crisis was just the ‘Glasgow madness’. He was adamant that Rodgers would get Celtic back on track, and that they would correct their course to land the league crown.
At that stage, that scenario looked about as likely as Lambert winning a Champions League medal a year after leaving Motherwell on a Bosman. But it happened. So, you could forgive Lambert now if he feels a little smug that his confidence in Rodgers has proven to have been justified.
"I think Brendan came in at a very hard time, replacing Ange,” Lambert said.
"It didn't matter who came in to replace Ange, it was always going to be a really tough gig.
"To win the league is absolutely fantastic. To clinch the Scottish Cup as well, it's been a brilliant season.
"Hopefully now they can keep kicking on. Before you know it, the next season is on you, and you've got to go and do it all again.
"Brendan has been involved with some of the biggest teams in arguably the best league in the world with Liverpool, Leicester and Swansea. He knows exactly what he's doing. He's been around the block and knows how to handle football clubs.
"He's also been here before, so he knew the expectation levels of it.
"For me it was a very clever move to bring him back."
The unique nature of the demands in Glasgow, and Rodgers understanding of them, is a theme that Lambert, and many others who have had them placed upon their shoulders in the past, return to time and again.
Had the Scottish Cup final gone the other way, for instance, it may not have negated their title victory, but it would certainly have taken the sheen off it.
To anyone who is new to the Old Firm rivalry, that may seem like a strange notion, but Lambert knows how important it was for Celtic to triumph at Hampden last weekend not only for the satisfaction of getting their hands on more silverware, but for keeping a figurative foot to the throat of Rangers.
"This club is built on winning,” he said.
“There's no other way to dress it up. When you play here or you're the manager here, the remit is you have to win titles. That's the pressure this club generates, and everybody thrives on that.
"The ones that struggle with that are the ones who can't handle it. But everybody comes here and knows what the club stands for.
"It's a different kind of pressure [to anywhere else]. Realistically, there's only two teams that can win the league in Scotland. You're first or you're last.
"You know you have to win. The ten-in-a-row season was the most difficult league title I won because of the pressure on that.
"Everybody thrived on that pressure, nobody wilted. That's the secret here."
There was certainly no wilting from the Celtic players in the Scottish Cup final in a mental sense, with the champions digging deep to pull out a victory when their bodies did look to be wilting in the Hampden sun at the end of a long season.
"They did [dig deep], that was credit to them,” Lambert added.
“They kept their cool, even when Rangers looked to have scored that goal.
"Celtic got a little bit of impetus and once they got the goal, they never looked back.
"The main thing was getting the win and bringing in another trophy."
