Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers is humble after Scottish Cup win… and Kieran Tierney’s in agony

BRENDAN RODGERS last night insisted the Invincible Treble was only just the start of his work at Celtic.

Thanks to Tom Rogic’s last-gasp strike, the Northern Irishman is now one of only three Hoops bosses to have completed the domestic clean sweep.

Jock Stein, twice, – in 1967 and 1969 – and Martin O’Neill in 2001 are the exalted company he now sits alongside.

“It’s a huge honour, given what they achieved,” Rodgers admitted.

“You see how difficult it is. You see the great history of the club and the great managers, the players who have been here before me.

“It’s still a very difficult thing to do.

“So to have achieved that in our first season, alongside everything else that we have done, is very humbling.

“I still get a funny feeling. It doesn’t sit quite right with me when you think about it.

“Jock was a real pioneer and led the club the way he wanted it to go, and Martin did an incredible job here.

“History will judge me. I’ve only just begun really.

“When I leave here, people will look at what I did.

“It’s been truly enjoyable and a privilege to manage this club. It’s a real special feeling.”

If mention of Stein and O’Neill put a lump in his throat, Rodgers also found it tough to sufficiently thank his players.

“What they have done has been a monumental achievement, one which I don’t think will ever be repeated,” he said.

“It’s very difficult for me to describe it at this moment – but what the players have done is make history.

“The league has been fantastic, competitive. We’ve had to be at our best, which is why I push the players in training every day.

“We’ve come through a league campaign unbeaten and this was always going to be tough.

“I wanted to impose a clear identity on how we played and we’ve created that.

“Now we can build from that.

“We’ve shown that from this way of working, you have something tangible to show for it.

“So we’ll go away now, some of the players will rest, some have international games, but we’ll be back in again and we’ll look to go again.”

Kieran Tierney, though, is a doubt for Scotland’s clash with England on June 10 as a result of the knock to the mouth he took from Aberdeen striker Jayden Stockley.

“His mouth’s swollen and he may need an operation,” reported Rodgers

“I think his teeth came from the palate of his mouth.

I can’t imagine how sore that is, so he is going to need some protective work on that and will need a specialist to look at that.

“In terms of England, I don’t want to rule him in or out.”

Rodgers was likewise cautious on the question of whether referee Bobby Madden should have taken action against Stockley.

“I would have to see it again,” he said.

“My initial reaction is that is twice it has happened because Kieran took a heavy elbow up at Pittodrie in the game we won 3-1.

“He was down and out for a while in that game.

“It is a difficult one because when two players are running that can happen.

“But for it to happen again . . .

“I don’t want to comment too much because I need to see it again.”