Delighted Brendan Rodgers insists 2024 has been one of his greatest years as a boss.
The Celtic manager is heading into New Year on the back of an incredible 12 months where his side won three trophies and only lost TWO games. Celts only went down to Hearts in Scotland and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League in 50 games at home and abroad.
Rodgers’ men will head to Ibrox to face Rangers on January 2 with a massive 14 point gap over their rivals on the back of another big win after they stuffed St Johnstone 4-0 at Parkhead. And the manager admitted it was the perfect way to round off a sensational year that will live long in the memory. Rodgers said: “I’m just so pleased with what 2024 has brought us in performance and statistics. As a guy who’s managing the club and has the privilege to do that, I look back on this season and I’ve got the privilege of managing the team but also from a supporter’s perspective.
“This will be an historic season in terms of what we’ve achieved statistically over this season. That makes me really proud, and seeing that game today and seeing what the players have given, you can see the mindset that’s very much established here to win and win in the best possible way.
“I thought last season was one of the best coaching seasons of my career in terms of coming in and what I was coming into. This season has just been a joy to work with the players and seeing them evolve and develop and how I want them to work.
“I’ve seen some statistics yesterday that people were trying to show me. From that aspect, it’s mentally impressive but we’ve still got to sustain it and we still want to keep working and play to the level that we want to on a consistent basis.”
Celtic were at their relentless best to see off Saints and Rodgers insisted there was no way his men would be distracted by the upcoming derby. He said: “I think it’s just respecting the game. Players aren’t robots, we’re in the midst of a really challenging period. You’ll have some periods in the game where you’re not quite at the intensity as what you’d be if you think what we were in the first three months of the season. You get one game a week and you can prepare and do everything else. So we’re going to have little moments like that but ultimately we’ll have long periods where we are intense and we will be there.
“That’s our mindset and I think you’ve seen that today from the first minute. I thought from minute one to the 94th minute we were outstanding in the game. I was so impressed by the guys and the work.”
Saints boss Simo Valikari meanwhile admitted his side ran into an unstoppable force at Celtic Park. He said: “‘We need to have almost a perfect day and the opponent needs to play below the bar. Unfortunately for us it didn’t happen today.
“We have a lot of our own problems ourselves, we need to fix them, but sometimes you need to respect the football the opponent plays.
“It’s 89 minutes, it’s 4-0 and they don’t let us breathe. They just come and come and come. So if we can learn from the best, it’s very good for our process. But overall it was hanging in as long as you can. Today it was not there. So no disappointment or anything.”