Brendan Rodgers has built a Celtic siege mentality and that's why the Usual Suspects are odds on for the double

It's been a bit like that classic scene at the end of The Usual Suspects, when Kevin Spacey’s character shuffles out of the cop shot with that limp before breaking into a perfect stride.

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn’t exist. You get the sense Brendan Rodgers has produced the old gammy leg trick this season with Celtic. The greatest trick the Hoops boss has pulled this year has been convincing everyone his team were lame before marching to the title.

It’s been a master stroke. He even convinced his team they were underdogs. Rodgers has gone full siege mentality at Parkhead this term and it worked a treat as performance levels soared. Even last weekend, the Irishman said he showed his players a ‘collage of negativity’ from newspapers to get his men to make folk eat their words. Goodness knows what was on this thing, mind you. There might have been a collage of realism at times over the year but it wasn’t as if Celts were ever written off as total duds.

There undoubtedly were challenges. The injury list and nonsense off the field gave punters a newbie jeebie inducing feeling of Deja vu back to the Covid season when everything that could go wrong, did. But it wasn’t as if Celts were pulling supporters out of the stands for a game. They still have a squad packed with internationals.

Regardless of the hurdles though, this year tested the manager in a whole new way and however he did it, Rodgers got the job done. And it was all the more impressive as this was a new trick required at Celtic Park. The Hoops were never for a second the underdogs during his first spell in charge and even this year started the campaign as reigning Treble winners. Rangers did look in pole position at one