Brendan Rodgers demands the Celtic 'trophy heads' emerge as boss turns to 'certified winner' in dressing room

Brendan Rodgers might have blown his top at the poor Celtic kitman at Hampden but he’s determined to keep a lid on things elsewhere right now. Because the Hoops gaffer insists it’s time to screw on the trophy head on set the sights on silverware.

Rodgers was caught on camera before last weekend’s dramatic Scottish Cup shootout win against Aberdeen giving club stalwart Stevie Wright a telling off for talking in the ear of Paulo Bernardo. He laughed it off at Lennoxtown yesterday but the message was clear. Rodgers is the man in charge – and the players need to listen to him.

When asked his words before the penalties, the Irishman joked: “Don’t let your kit man near them! Stevie (Wright) got a wee bit of a blast from me, didn’t he? Bless him. He’s a good guy, he’s Celtic daft, he’s Celtic mad, but you have got to know your place…”

For Rodgers, that is top of the pile – at his club and in the league standings. To remain there the manager is well aware that this point of the campaign is more psychological than physical.

Rodgers has called on sports psychologists in the past in his career at Swansea, Liverpool and Celtic. But he’s been in the game long enough to trust his own mentality methods, gathered from studying neuro linguistic programming in his younger days and then more than 700 games in the dugout.

Rodgers said: “I think this is the period where you’ve got to get your trophy head on. You’ve got to get focused on what it takes to become a champion. The players here are well-versed in that.

“They understand the mindset, they understand the psychological traits needed at this stage. Physically, you’ve done a lot of your work. There may be one or two players looking to get back in or up to speed, but in general,