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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Joe Donnelly

The Celtic manager's 'underdog' comments that paved way for flag day rout

Elena Sadiku's Celtic FC Women's side kicked off the SWPL season with a thrilling 9-0 victory of Dundee United at Celtic Park on Saturday.

The win was the perfect start to the Hoops' title defence, having won the SWPL championship last term for the first time in the club's history.

In a deep-dive interview with The Herald ahead of last weekend's flag day encounter, Sadiku, who joined Celtic part-way through last season, said one of her first tasks after moving to Glasgow was changing the mindset of her players.

"This is Celtic, winning trophies is important," Sadiku said. "But it's not just about winning cups, it's more about how we behave, how we play, how dominant we are. I want to change the mindset.

"Because the mindset was not dominating before, it was more underdog and Celtic should never be underdogs. For me, it was more about understanding our strategy, our vision; where we have been and where we want to go in the long-term. We've won the league, it's the first time ever, but I want more.

"I want us to create our own story. Celtic is a club rich in history with a long lineage of success, on the men's side. We don't have almost-150 years of history, we have since 2007 and only four years of being full-time professionals."


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Sadiku said the Celtic FC Women's side isn't quite there yet, but with a number of new players having signed during the current summer transfer window, and with such a brilliant start to the 2024/25 campaign, the future looks bright for the green half of Glasgow.

The Celtic manager added: "This is the start of something new and I want to build a solid foundation which is going to make us more and more successful in years to come."

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