Brendan Rodgers explains what gave Celtic a platform to play their football

The Celtic Star

·11. Mai 2025

Brendan Rodgers explains what gave Celtic a platform to play their football

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers spoke to the mainstream media at Celtic Park yesterday afternoon yesterday afternoon…

Celtic Manager Brendan Rodgers applauds the fans at full-time. Celtic v Hibernian, Scottish Premiership, 10 May 2025 Photo Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock

‘What the hell do we care?’ seems to be the Celtic message

The Celtic Star and other prominent fan media sites are NOT invited to these events but a front facing seemingly fan media site, with most of its content behind a paywall, manage to get in there every time as they are actually a mainstream media site. Celtic don’t seem to mind too much though, so that works fine for them. ‘What the hell do we care?’ seems to be the Celtic message to the genuine Celtic fan media.

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Initially Celtic fan media was invited on a rota system to both the pre-match media conferences and the post match media conferences for domestic games at Celtic Park. There is now no rota, just an occasional email the night before a pre-match conference might come in. Think we’ve had one this season.

And for those thinking the fan media folk ever got access to the press box, that is not the case. If we were going to the post-match media conference we’d pick up a pass ahead of the game, sit in our usual seats and then go round after the match for the media conference. Celtic never said why it stopped. Smoke and mirrors stuff.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers arrives prior to Scottish Premiership match between Celtic FC and Hibernian FC at Celtic Park on May 10, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

How long before the other mainstream media outlets follow suit and create their own version of fan media sites, aided and abetted by Celtic? Many of the genuine Celtic fan media sites have already drifted away and there’s very little interaction with the club, certainly much less than in previous seasons.

At least the club are now putting these post match media conferences on their social media channels. Here’s everything the was said yesterday after Celtic played really well in the 3-1 win over Hibs. You can read for free on The Celtic Star, no paywall here folks.

Hibernian players applaud the Celtic team on to the pitch in a guard of honour for the Scottish Premiership champions. Celtic v Hibernian, Scottish Premiership, 10 May 2025. Photo Stuart Wallace Shutterstock

Why don’t Celtic just determine which media outlets should be being involved, each on its own merits whether it’s a red top newspaper or a Celtic podcast? The size of audience, the professionalism of the outlet and so on. But what the hell do we care? The Celtic Star is thriving regardless

That’s the last we’ll be saying about this but it needed saying.

Q: What did you take away from that performance today?

Brendan Rodgers: “Just the mentality of the team. I think a day like today, a beautiful day, they’ve already won the league, It would have been so easy just to turn up and not play with that tempo and intensity. But I said to the players before, this club is all about building on your past success, not dwelling on it. So, two weeks ago you were the champions. We have a chance in two weeks’ time to gain another title, and we need to build on the other two by keeping our rhythm, keeping our mentality to arrive for the Scottish Cup in a really good place.

Martin Boyle of Hibernian celebrates scoring the opening goal during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic FC and Hibernian FC at Celtic Park on May 10, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“The work we did in the team today was the difference. To be a team of dominance, you need to counter-press the game, against a team that hits you very, very good. You see it so many times, when they defend well, like they’ve done, then they break out. With Martin (Boyle), with his speed and pace, and the strikers up front, they can be a real handful. But today, how we pressed the game from the first minute to the end, made me so proud of the team. Just that ethic and mentality to win, and then that gave us the platform to play our football.”

Continued on the next page…

Adam Idah of Celtic celebrates scoring to give Celtic a 2-1 lead. Celtic v Hibernian, Scottish Premiership, Celtic Park, 10 May 2025 Photo Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock

Q: In the lead-up to this game, you did say you would rotate across the week, but it was obviously a strong line-up today. Obviously, seeing the way the game played out, you’re justified in that team selection today…

Brendan Rodgers: “You thought I’d say I was wrong? No, no, I’m saying it worked, because you obviously won the game. But you said you’d rotate, but today didn’t feel like the day for that. You’re obviously looking at recovery periods and looking at the Scottish Cup final and trying to work your way back. Plus, we played a week ago. So, no, I didn’t think there was a need to do that. But definitely, I’ve already named the team to the guys. They know the team for Wednesday. So, don’t ask now!”

Q: Did you say there’s going to be a change in goal? Have you already said there’s going to be a change in the goal?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, Vil (Sinisalo) will play.”

Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel applauds the fans at full-time. Celtic v Hibernian, 10 May 2025 Photo Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock

Q: Were you pleased with Kasper today?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, I just get the feeling again, he’s been out for a long time, but I think that him being out, the positive is that having the chance to see Vil now, and his authority, and going to the outbox, you see the calmness of him for such a young goalkeeper. We’ve really, really gained from that. Kasper, I know in football there’s short memories, but not with me. He’s been brilliant for me all season, and it’s just nice to get in that field, see how he reacts with his shoulder over the course of the week, and then we can then look at it next week.”

Reo Hatate of Celtic scores to give Celtic a 3-1 lead. Celtic v Hibernian, Scottish Premiership, 10 May 2025 Photo Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock

Q: How pleasing was it to hit that 106 goal milestone, obviously the same as there was in 16/17?

Brendan Rodgers: “Is it 106 or 105? 106, probably 106. 106, is it? Yeah. Cheers, guys. Not that special! I’ve been telling the players there’s one less. I think, again, setting many targets for them, of course, that was going into this block of games, we had items that we wanted to achieve, obviously the goal scoring, I think there was a record number of goals at home, which was 62 in a league season, I think when Martin (O’Neill) was in 2003, 2004, that was 62, so we’re now on 61. There’s one game to go, and so we’ll be hungry to make Trophy Day special, but also during the week, but I’ve given them targets to achieve beyond winning the trophies, and so you see the hunger in the team in order to achieve those.”

Continued on the next page…

Adam Idah of Celtic celebrates scoring to give Celtic a 2-1 lead. Celtic v Hibernian, Scottish Premiership, 10 May 2025 Photo Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock

Q: Were you especially pleased for Adam (Idah) to get another goal? There were a few groans at a couple of early chances that went begging for him, but he still scores, I think it’s what, 19th of the season now?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, Adam’s been fantastic for us, and in his first season, he’s only going to get better and better. I think the thing with Adam is that what probably the crowd and people see is when we play these strikers, like Kyogo and Daizen, they’re so explosive, so they’re so off the mark, their acceleration is incredible. He has power and he has speed also, and you see his movement to get in, but he’s a different type of striker. His contribution over the course of the season has been so, so important for us, not just domestically, but at the highest level. One striker cannot play all the games that we play, but I’ve been really pleased with him.

“Arne Engels doesn’t score so many goals, but again, a young player that’s coming in, 21 years of age, you see his work rate today, you see his running, you see his authority in the game. He’s not going to be a player that’s going to get 20, 25 goals – that’s not why we brought him in. We brought him in to develop him, improve him, but that physicality is so important, especially at the highest level. So yeah, Auston Trusty coming in, playing off the wrong side, hadn’t been playing for a wee while, was good in the game. So yeah, overall I think it was a real, real collective high-level performance.”

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers arrives prior to the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic FC and Hibernian FC at Celtic Park on May 10, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: In terms of midweek, is that a case of obviously not showing your hand as well, in case Aberdeen mix it up before the game, rather than rolling out the big guns?

Brendan Rodgers: “No, let’s trust all the players. The players I’ll bring in will be equipped and ready to go there and win the game. It’s just that on the back of such a long, long season, and having the freshness, and obviously we’ll have Alistair Johnson, he’ll be back then for Wednesday as well. So yeah, I just think it’s keeping the freshness in the team. I want the target to arrive at the Scottish Cup final with as many of the players, got minutes in their legs, and then that gives us an opportunity to choose the team and a bench to win.”

Q: You spoke yesterday about some of the young players, that was a nice moment for Sean McArdle being on there.

Brendan Rodgers: “Aye, he’s done really well in the B team, 17 years of age, obviously giving him that feeling. I want him to be a personality, even though he’s only on 10, 12 minutes, whatever it was, and he showed that. I like him, he’s got decent legs, he’s got a nice football brain, left-sided, he’s got culture when he plays, and now he’s got the best role models you can have in some of the players that we have here, like Callum (McGregor) and these guys, to learn from. It gives him a little reward for the good work that he’s done, now he’s got to continue learning and see what comes from it.”

Here’s Brendan’s post-match media conference…

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