Brendan Rodgers on Dermot Desmond’s ‘passion, energy and enthusiasm for Celtic’

Q: In terms of Greg Taylor, who plays in the same position, is there any update on his contract situation? Is he a player you’d like to see here beyond summer? Do you expect him to be here beyond summer?

Brendan Rodgers: “I would hope so. I think I’ve said it a number of times, he’s so important for our squad, Greg, because when you want to build a squad, it’s never just about starters. It’s about the whole squad and you want to adapt to that. So, he’s a player that I’ve really enjoyed working with so much on and off the pitch. And I’ve said it before and I repeat, I really want him to stay. So, I’m hoping that between the club and his representatives, we can organise a deal. But I also understand he’s 27 now, this will be one of the last big contracts of his career. So, he has to make sure that everything is right. But what I do know is I really want him to be here. I love working with him. I really enjoy the aspect of seeing him every day because he’s up for every training session. And for me, he’s really important for us.”

Q: In terms of team news, we saw James Forrest in a protective boot on Sunday after the final and in crutches. How is he and how is the rest of the squad for Sunday?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, James will be probably six weeks. So, yes, he had a real sort of bad blow in the game. And to be fair for him to carry on, he showed great courage to do that. But yes, sadly, we’ll miss him for up to that length of time. So, Alistair Johnson, we just need to have an eye on him as well over these next couple of days. If he misses out this weekend, he’ll be fine for the next game. But we just managed that injury that he had. We’ve had a few bugs and bits and pieces going about. So, hopefully, they can tidy themselves up over the next couple of days and we have most of our players available for the weekend.”

Q: What’s been your take on some of the fallout from Sunday?

Brendan Rodgers: “I’ve only seen little bits of it, if I’m totally honest because I’ve been busy doing other things. But yes, it doesn’t surprise me. I’ve been involved in 20 games now and there’s always a narrative of something after the game, whether someone should have been sent off or not, or whether it was a goal or not, or whether it was a penalty or not. Even when the penalty’s offside. So, all these things get thrown into the mix. So, I don’t really think a lot of it, to be honest. It’s there. It’s a talking point. My only interest was for us to be there and come out of Hampden with the trophy.”

Q: Is that important, that your players get the credit they deserve for winning that trophy?

Brendan Rodgers: “Winning is hard – and it sometimes has made me feel, probably here, that it’s seen as something easy. It’s not an easy thing to do. And it’s certainly not an easy thing to do repetitively, what this team have done. So, if you think of over this calendar year, this team has only lost twice. Once when we’ve been down to 10 men and a Borussia Dortmund game against the Champions League finalists where we were outclassed on the night. But the mental strength and the mentality and the consistency show what this team have done, and I think the supporters recognise that which is the most important. So, as I said, we hope we can continue that to the end of the season and then get into 2025 in a good way as well. But it’s always going to be that way. And like I said, there’s always a narrative that surrounds these games, whichever it is. But what’s most important is for the manager and your team is you go there and you win. And that’s what we’ve done.”

Continued on the next page…