This has been a season of great paradoxes for Celtic and a prime example of that will be seen on Saturday, when wild celebration surrounds the final home game of the season. Celtic are deserving champions of Scotland – a 12th title in 13 seasons emphasises their dominance – but this situation appeared barely feasible in mid-December. They were being comfortably defeated by Hearts at home; venomous chanting from the stands was being directed at the club’s board; the team had already made their cursory, lame exit from Europe.
Brendan Rodgers may now confidently assert his side were always likely to discover rhythm when a number of players returned from injury. The point is valid. He has been in spiky form, asserting he has been “treated like a novice” since taking on the Celtic managerial post for the second time. This salty version of the Northern Irishman is entertaining and he is perfectly entitled to settle scores, but Rodgers has been in frequent danger of playing to a gallery that lap up the “put-upon Celtic” routine.
The man who insisted he did not care what is said or written about Celtic because he listens to and reads none of it took particular exception to one columnist suggesting he was “going through the motions”. Rodgers spent no such time thanking those who pointed out he was the best appointment Celtic could have made after Ange Postecoglou fled to Tottenham, as a noisy minority of the club’s support made their disenchantment plain.
Contradictions are everywhere. When Rodgers pointedly said he would watch Tottenham take on Manchester City rather than Rangers against Dundee on Tuesday it was not only somewhat disrespectful to his working environment but also contrived.
The manager has ridiculed the writing-off of his team long before the campaign concluded, but referenced an “awkward” six months as recently as Tuesday. He earlier blamed society itself after a clumsy interaction with a female BBC reporter.
These mild displays of aggression barely suit the affable 51-year-old and ignore the circumstances around him. He has labelled this the most challenging season of a lengthy managerial career. During it, Celtic have frequently failed to sparkle. That was the case as recently as April, during a horrendously error-strewn Scottish Cup semi-final against Aberdeen, which they eventually won on penalties.
It was Rodgers who stated Celtic required more “bravery” in the January transfer window. It was the same man who railed at the “incompetence” of match officials during a loss at Hearts, when Celtic benefited from an awful decision but missed the penalty in question.
Rodgers seemed bemused by subsequent action from the Scottish FA. That game, on 3 March, was Celtic’s last defeat. Their relentlessness and refusal to concede this league to their only rivals has been hugely admirable. One criticism that can never be levelled at their players or management relates to attitude. They routinely outshine Rangers in that department.
Still, the Premiership has been won despite rather than because of this squad. Barring major surgery, which Celtic can afford and Rodgers will surely now demand, further turmoil in Europe beckons. Matt O’Riley, a shining light in midfield, will surely be coaxed away by a bigger club this summer. James Forrest has returned from the sidelines to play a vital role in the closing stages of the season. Rodgers lauds Forrest, whom he started in two domestic games before late April.
As if to sum up this most curious of spells, Rodgers took a swipe at Reo Hatate after the last Old Firm victory. “He gives the ball away too much for a midfielder,” the manager said without encouragement. Hatate was earlier regarded as one of the team’s key absentees.
Scottish football’s cheerleaders look away now – general standards over the course of this season have been woeful. None of this is to decry Celtic, the best team in Scotland under the country’s one genuinely elite manager, but there has to be an awareness of the bigger picture if the club is going to progress beyond domestic trinkets. Celtic had tens of millions in the bank even before the enhanced riches of next season’s Champions League are brought into the equation. There will be no excuse for not raising the bar over the summer, to the tune of umpteen players costing upwards of £5m.
It has not taken Philippe Clement long to discover he is in charge of a batch of unreliable footballers. Rangers’ loss at Celtic Park this month was their seventh in the Premiership; a preposterous record for a team harbouring dreams of the title. At the same juncture, Kilmarnock had lost on only two more occasions.
Rangers’ league glory of the Covid-affected season looks more and more like an outlier. Steven Gerrard would actually do Rangers a favour if, as has been speculated, he wants to bring some of that class of 2020-21 to Saudi Arabia.
Clement is not blameless after Rangers imploded in back-to-back games at Ross County and Dundee, when the championship was within their grasp. Their football under the Belgian is rarely inspiring. Nonetheless, he inherited a toxic mix of serial bottle-merchants and bland new arrivals after Michael Beale’s tenure was unceremoniously halted.
Clement has spoken of a big rebuild this summer, which is indeed required; but Beale promised and presided over the very same. The emperor continually dons new clothes at Ibrox. Clement badly needs a Scottish Cup final win over Celtic to alter the mood around his club.
Celtic find themselves in the enviable position where that occasion has far less significance, which should not prevent them from being the heavy favourites at Hampden. Rodgers should smell the roses a little; he is the master of all before him once again.
