Dermot's 'passion, energy and enthusiasm for Celtic,' BR

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Celtic celebrations after winning the Premier Sports Cup Final between Celtic and theRangers at Hampden on Sunday 15 December 2024. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Q: I was going to say, is that important? The culture you’ve bred here, that even when there’s adversity, when things go against you, you’re going to make real decisions. You do your job, you get the job done. That seems to be the kind of mindset here.

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, it’s the strength of mindset because, in the pressure moments, this team delivers and has delivered. And that’s what we did last weekend. Cup finals are never great games sometimes. They can be a bit bitty and we weren’t quite in our flow. And that’s a credit to Rangers as well because they defend it well and work very, very hard. We had a high percentage of the ball, scored good goals, and gave away disappointing goals from our perspective. So, you have to respect that. But the pressure moments, this is a team that has delivered. But it’s something that they do every single day. They work to that. And that’s something that makes you really pleased with as a manager. But it’s something that comes from the mindset every single day.”

Q: VAR has been in the spotlight this week, but do you think VAR in general has got better the longer it’s been in the game here now?

Brendan Rodgers: “I just think there will be issues around it and there always will be. I think we all recognise that it’s still ultimately a human decision. I think it’s also worth pointing out the human side as well for the officials. I think it all gets lost and all of that, but there’s a human element to it as well that we’ve got to think about with the guys. So, we all know I will make mistakes, everyone will make mistakes. You can see actually in the incident why they came to the decision because the early foul wasn’t a penalty. The contact, then the pull, is still not on the line. The argument is, well, it’s continued on and gone into the box and obviously Willie (Collum) and the guys who specialise in refereeing have come out and said it’s a penalty. But you can see why the officials didn’t give it. But like I say, there is a narrative on all of these games where penalties are sent off. So, this was the narrative for this one. For me, I’m only worried about winning and we won the game. We deserve to win the game because we dealt with the pressure really well and we’ll move on to the next trophy.”

Daizen Maeda with the Premier Sports Cup after Celtic’s victory over theRangers on 15 December 2024 at Hampden Park. Photo Kenny Ramsay

Q: You had one at Motherwell earlier this season when Daizen Maeda should have had a penalty and given a handball against him. Do we just have to accept that these imperfections are in with the bricks with that? It can’t be perfect as long as human beings are operating on it?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, absolutely. I think that Willie and how he’s trying to take it and to be transparent and everything else is only good because there’s lots of talk for years that there’s not that. So, he’s coming out and he’s trying to be open and honest and hopefully helpful to the staff. But there will always be that because it’s still down to interpretation. We’ve got good officials up here. They’re doing their very, very best. Some of them aren’t full-time. A lot of them aren’t full-time. That’s the reality. But they’re still giving everything to make the best decisions and they won’t always be the right decisions. So, yeah, it will always be a part of it. Like you said, the Maeda case, the Hearts game, one of the games that we have lost, that was cleared up afterwards. That was a penalty that we should have not had. But yeah, these things happen.”

Tannadice Park, Dundee,

Q: Just looking ahead to Sunday, it’s quite unusual. You play a team for the first time in the Premiership, just before the New Year. What kind of challenge are you expecting from Jim Goodwin’s team?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, a tough challenge. I’m really looking forward to going there. I’ve never been to Tannadice, not faced them as a manager. But I know the history of Dundee United growing up, following Celtic and what they were back then and how tough a place it was to go. But I expect a tough game as well. I think Jim’s organised his team ever so well. They mix the game up, how they play. So we go there, we know that we have to be really good in the game and that’s what we aim to be.”

Stephen Welsh of Celtic before the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic FC and Dundee FC at Celtic Park on October 30, 2024 . (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Stephen Welsh, he might be on his way out in January. Is there anything you can say about that?

Brendan Rodgers: “Nothing to add to that. Stephen again, very much being a part of the furniture here, a great member of our squad. Naturally, we will have some players in our squad that will want to play games. And Steven may well be one of those players. But he’s a brilliant servant for this club. What he gives, the likes of him and Tony (Ralston) plays a little bit more than what Steven does. But these guys are still absolutely critical to the culture of this club. But of course, there’s sometimes they then have to think about themselves, and they’ve got to think about their careers. So I’m pretty sure there’ll be some movement with some players looking to get game time and play. We all respect that.”