Brendan Fraudgers!

Aye it's good to see.

 

That's Brendan for you. :brendy:

 

MANAGING Celtic remains a huge privilege and an honour for Brendan Rodgers as he prepares to mark the 100-match milestone in charge of his boyhood heroes in today's league showdown with Hibernian.

Since taking the reins in Paradise 20 months ago, the Irishman has enjoyed stunning success, guiding the Hoops to an unprecedented invincible treble in his first season at the helm, along with qualification to the group stages of the UEFA Champions League.

In the current campaign, the Bhoys negotiated the tough UEFA Champions League qualifiers for a second successive year and then achieved their target of European football beyond Christmas. Domestically, the champions have already lifted the League Cup, enjoy a commanding lead at the top of the table and have advanced into the last 16 of the Scottish Cup.

Reflecting on his incredible adventure in the Hoops hot-seat, Brendan Rodgers told this week's Celtic View that all 99 games as manager of his beloved Celtic have been special.

“I wasn’t aware of that milestone,” he said in an exclusive interview “But every game has been a privilege to manage the club. I still find myself from time to time looking around the stadium when it’s full and empty and just being really appreciative of the opportunity I have been given here.

“It’s always a pressure job, managing the big clubs but managing the club here is a huge honour for me.

“Like I say to the players, I want to produce quality football - but quality without results is pointless and results without quality are boring. What I try to find is to get the team to play with a quality that excites the supporters and allows us to win games and, thankfully, over the course of that time, we have won more and played well in a lot of those games.

“We have to keep improving that consistency and that quality and it’s a nice landmark and hopefully we can mark it a win.”

Many memorable moments have been packed into this period but the Irishman will particularly treasure the Scottish Cup final triumph last May which saw him join Jock Stein and Martin O’Neill as a treble-winning Celtic manager.

That sense of making history dawned on him as Tom Rogic scored his dramatic last-gasp winner, prompting scenes of euphoria.

“There have been so many highs,” he said. “I look back on the Scottish Cup final and I am much clearer in my thinking of it now when I see the images of it and the ending. All the talk before the game had been about emulating Jock Stein and Martin O’Neill, and there is a moment when the goal goes in and I put my hands to my face when there was probably a realisation that this could be the moment.

“There was a lot of talk before the game of what could happen and following in the footsteps of these great people, and you can never think of that as you have to focus on the job. At that one moment, winning that and looking at the scenes on the podium really capped off an incredible season for us.

“It’s very hard to follow that, a season where you have been invincible in terms of results and winning three trophies and creating the most wins ever in a league competition, with 33, and scoring the most-ever goals, with 106.

"It’s very hard to follow that season but the players have done remarkably well in looking to follow that up. But that was probably a moment I think back on and think, ‘we did it’.”

 

Has the GB got anything planned for today?

 

Wouldn't think so but who knows.

 

Would ride, in fairness.

 

Brendan has that effect on people.

 

Good interview on BBC Radio Scotland..

He would be personally disappointed in the window if we don’t add..

 

BR on @HibsOfficial: "They’re a good side. They’re a very good team. They haven’t lost many games and they normally get good results, especially away from home."

BR: "Having played against Neil’s team three times before this game I felt if we defended well we’d have a great chance of winning the game. That’s how it turned out today."

BR on injuries: "Leigh, it looks like his calf, and Craig looks a bit more serious in terms of his knee. We need to have a look at that and the scan because he could be out for a period of time."

BR on transfers: "We’ll see over the next couple of days. Hopefully we can confirm one or two signings which would be a great lift for the squad. We certainly might need to look at the goalkeeping situation. That’s certainly an area we might need to look at for sure.

BR: "My time here so far has gone very quickly. You’re playing so many games and of course, as I’ve said before, it’s a real privilege to manage the club."

 

BR: "It’ll be a tough game again I’m sure, but we hope to get the victory. It was a tough day for us when we last played them but the response has been excellent and we’ll hopefully get another good result tomorrow."

BR: "Since we’ve come back the games have come thick and fast and you can’t afford to look too far ahead. We had Brechin, Partick and then a tough game against Hibs. Thankfully we came through those and only then could we narrow our focus onto this game.

BR: "We deservedly lost to Hearts on the day and that was pretty clear. They coped with everything much better than us and deserved the victory. We made too many mistakes on the day.

BR: "It was always going to happen. I always said it was going to happen at some point in time so to have been unbeaten in 69 games domestically was an incredible achievement. I always judge a team on their response though.

BR: "My feeling was always how we would be judged on the reaction and if you look at the reaction after that, we’ve played seven games and won six of those, drew one and kept clean sheets in all bar one of them which was a penalty.

BR: "It’s a great testament to the players and their focus and mentality that on that given day we lost the record and then after that we got the chance to move on and the response has been brilliant."

BR: "It’s an unfortunate situation with Craig being out for up to 12 weeks. We need to have cover with someone coming in to support Dorus De Vries."

BR: "Dorus has been a very loyal number two, he’s been outstanding in his time here. He’s been very, very good in his recent performances. He has experience and is in great physical condition too. When he had to come on at the weekend he was calm, assured

BR: "Leigh will be be out for around 4 weeks with his calf strain. He’s an extremely talented player and a natural goal scorer. That’s why you need 2 or 3 good strikers, that way if one gets injured there’s someone else."

 

you called it, i am thinking 3 now also in additon to musonda!

 

Goalkeeper and right back please.