LIAM SCALES insists there is NO chance Celtic will switch off before the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden a week tomorrow.
Brendan Rodgers is 90 minutes away from sealing a league and Cup double in the manager’s second coming at Parkhead.
The Premiership title was cemented with the 5-0 midweek triumph over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park – the returning gaffer’s third championship success and his eighth trophy out of a possible nine domestic honours over his two stints.
It’s an impressive silverware sequence and born-again Celt Scales is determined not to allow Philippe Clement’s Ibrox outfit to become party poopers at the national stadium on the iconic date of May 25.
GREEN FOR GO…Liam Scales and his Celtic team-mates celebrate their third successive title after the 5-0 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
Quizzed if failure at the final hurdle would put a massive dampener on the Hoops’ season, the Republic of Ireland international centre-back answered: “Yes, it would, 100 per cent.
“We know at this club you need to win every trophy that is available. That is the expectation and that is the mentality we have. That is the way it is and I have learnt that this season while playing.
“I obviously saw it in the previous years, but being part of it now you feel it a bit more. It is a given. It is just the way we all think – it is the mentality we have.
“We want to win against St Mirren tomorrow and make it a good occasion for our home fans. Then it’s on to the Cup Final.
“We obviously want to complete the double. I don’t think we will be fully satisfied unless we go and win that game. We definitely will not switch off.
“You have probably seen over the last few years the mentality of the lads, so I don’t think it is possible for that to happen.”
ON THE BALL…Liam Scales in control in the Hoops rearguard.
Last summer, it looked as though Scales, bought by Ange Postecoglou from Shamrock Rovers for £650,000 in August 2021, was on his way back to Aberdeen for a second successive loan season.
However, injuries to Cameron Carter-Vickers, Stephen Welsh and new Bhoys Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke forced the Hoops into a rethink and the 26-year-old Dubliner was pitched into the top team.
He turned in a gutsy, spirited performance in his first-ever game at Ibrox in early September as Rodgers’ side won 1-0 with a spectacular first-time drive from Kyogo Furuhashi.
A series of similar displays saw Scales sign a new four-year contract and, speaking to the Daily Record, the defender reflected on the club’s third successive title and said: “It’s just amazing, brilliant. Just a feeling of pure joy.
“This feels completely different because of the turnaround I have had this year. I’ve been on the outside of these celebrations before. The first year before I went on loan it felt a bit like that. It was bittersweet.
“You were celebrating because the lads are your friends and your team-mates but you feel like you haven’t played your part as much as other people and it’s not as good. But I know I can really enjoy this now.”
WE’RE BEHIND YOU…Celtic fans are backing Liam Scales.
Scales added: “I feel an important part of it and it is much easier to feel and celebrate the emotions of winning it this way.
“When the final whistle went, it was just a feeling of pure delight. It is just all the hard work over the season – you just feel: ‘That is it, it was all worth it!’.”
And there could be double delight for Scales and his team-mates at Hampden a week tomorrow.
It’s the ideal stage for the curtain to come down on such a dramatic campaign that flagged up some unforeseen twists and turns.
Scales will play his part in ensuring there is not another tale of the unexpected this time around.
