Brendan Rodgers has revealed that managing Celtic has been the ‘biggest pressure’ of his entire career…
The Irishman maintains that losing any match is simply not an option for a club of its stature. And, the 52-year-old confesses he thrives on the constant demands and round-the-clock drive for trophies and victories.
Champion again, now the target is the Scottish Cup and with it a Treble
Rodgers led Celtic to their 55th league title with last weekend’s 5-0 win over Dundee United, and now he’s just one match away from completing his third domestic treble as Hoops boss. The Scottish champions will face Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park on Saturday, May 24, as Celtic look to secure a historic sixth domestic treble in nine years.
Rodgers said: “This is the biggest pressure job I’ve been in, and that’s because you cannot afford to lose a game of football. So, you imagine any team that’s out there, they’ll get a pass for a draw, they’ll get a pass for a win. Sometimes we don’t even get a pass for a win. We can win and get booed off.”
“That’s the relentless nature of it, and that’s what I love about the job.”
“So, that’s the relentless nature of it, and that’s what I love about the job. The expectation, the support base, is to always be better, to always improve and that drives you forward. So, you know you can never just rest on your laurels here at Celtic.”
“So, that means that every single day of your life, you have to be on it. You have to be really focused, you have to be prepared, you know that the other team you’re playing against are going to give that extra 10-15% physically, mentally, because every time you operate as a Celtic player and manager, you’re managing a final scenario. So, that is there in virtually every game.”
“So, to prepare the team, to prepare the trainings and the practice and the schedule and everything else that goes with that, to deal with that pressure, to leave you in the best possible position when you play your game, then it’s not straightforward.”
“We’ve got really good resources here, but we haven’t been handed money”
Brendan Rodgers added: “There are lots of teams that have good resources in other leagues and throughout the world, but they don’t necessarily win all the time. Yes, we’ve got really good resources here, but we haven’t been handed money. This is all generated through a model of work in the club, by our supporters, buying merchandise, everything is organic here at the Football Club, and then of course, my job is to look after the core performance of the team.”
‘It’s a highly pressurised situation in which you have to perform every single game’
“It’s not easy, it’s a highly pressurised situation in which you have to perform every single game and to be at that level, then that’s how you train, that mentality has to be in training. So, when you have that every day, you have no rest days.”
Conor Spence
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