Brendan Rodgers in weighty Celtic quip as stars follow cowboy hat wearing heroes who created history in USA

There are pre-season tours and then there are American pre-season tours, writes Michael Gannon in the US.

Brendan Rodgers doesn’t need to be told it’s more than just about building fitness when Celtic head across the Atlantic. The Parkhead club have a long association with the US – going back to Wilie Maley and Jimmy McGrory and Co making the club’s first jaunt across The Pond by boat almost a century ago. Rodgers knows the importance of touching base with the huge Celtic support in the United States.

And he’s also aware one trip in particular stands out more than most over the ages. Celtic’s most famous season of all was forged in America, when Jock Stein took a squad of 17 players – minus Jim Craig who was doing his dentistry studies – to Bermuda and then the States in the summer of 1966 to prepare for what would end up a record breaking campaign.

It was an eventful trip. There were hefty wins in the Caribbean – and hefty nights on the beer as well. There were more laughs on the mainland and another NINE matches as well as the Hoops squad make bonds that would take them to an incredible clean sweep of trophies nine months later, with the European Cup at the top of the pile.

Some of the stories are legendary. Bobby Lennox and Jimmy Johnstone kicking about in cowboy hats. Tommy Gemmell getting into a square go with half the Bayern Munich team. The police escort through New York City and Bertie Auld leaving Scotland as a winger but coming back as natural in midfield.

Rodgers has heard plenty of the tales and would love to see history repeated, even though it’s a tad more far fetched in this modern age. The Celts landed in Washington yesterday ahead of clashing with MLS outfit DC United at the weekend and then English big