BRENDAN RODGERS is on the brink of eclipsing the achievements of Celtic’s legendary manager Jock Stein.
The Irishman celebrated with his triumphant players in the sunshine of Paradise yesterday as the club were presented with their 55th title, completing the campaign a monumental 17 points ahead of their nearest challengers.
The Premier Sports League Cup was claimed at Hampden in mid-December and Rodgers takes his all-conquering troops to the same venue again on Saturday to face Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup Final.
A victory over the Dons, thrashed 6-0 at the national stadium back in November on an afternoon where the unstoppable Daizen Maeda thumped in a hat-trick, will cement Rodgers’ place in Celtic’s Hall of Fame.
FOUR-MIDABLE…Brendan Rodgers with his fourth Premiership title.
It will give the Hoops gaffer his third domestic clean sweep – and that will be one more than Stein who led the side to their first trebles in seasons 1966/67 and 1968/69.
Rodgers beamed as he lifted his fourth Premiership trophy and his eleventh honour spread over his two stints as Parkhead team chief following the 1-1 stalemate against St Mirren in the east end of Glasgow.
It wasn’t a vintage performance from the champions and they had to rely on a stoppage-time equaliser from James Forrest, enjoying his own personal 16-in-a-row as he maintained his extraordinary scoring sequence since hitting his first goal on his debut against Motherwell in May 2010.
Reflecting on another job well done, Rodgers said: “It’s been brilliant and the guys deserved to get something from the game.
“The consistency overall, and with consistency that’s about mentality, and the players every single day deserve so much credit.
“We’ve pushed them, they responded from mistakes and you can only be as good as we’ve been this season because of the players.
“They’ve been absolutely incredible, but I think there’s been a real connection with the support and the team – and that’s been great to see.”
POINTING THE WAY AHEAD…Brendan Rodgers issues instructions against St Mirren.
Forrest’s first goal of the term took him alongside club greats Paul McStay and Jimmy McGrory in achieving the feat of scoring in 16 successive crusades.
Rodgers, speaking to Celtic TV, continued: “In the second-half we were better, created a lot of chances and then what a story at the end.
“It’s just incredible, really and it’s so deserving, and it means everybody leaves here a champion, but also seeing James score, so it was amazing.
“Ali Johnston did so well because I was thinking it’s opened up for him and he’s got a good strike on him, but it was really good composure and, also for James.
“He could have just lashed at that, but it was a nice touch, good composure and it hit the target and went in.”
The Celtic gaffer added: “It’s important to celebrate this achievement because to be as comfortable as we’ve been throughout the season – that takes a lot of work.
“However, we’ve kept going, kept focused and now we’ve got one more title to try and aim for, but we’ll celebrate this and then get ready for Saturday at Hampden.”
