John Hartson has shared his insights on the brewing rivalry between Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers and Rangers boss Philippe Clement.
Hartson believes that Rodgers is already strategising to thwart Clement’s aspirations of winning the Scottish Premiership title.
Clement, who led Rangers to the Viaplay Cup victory on Sunday in a match that wasn’t without controversy, has been vocal about his ambitions to add more trophies to his collection. This declaration of intent has seemingly ignited a competitive response from Rodgers, according to Hartson.
Speaking on Go Radio [via RecordSport], Hartson believes that Rodgers will not take Clement’s challenge lightly.
“Clement has done a really good job since he’s coming in, there is no going away from that. He’s set out to the players what he needs from them, what he’s asking from them – he wants discipline, hard work and commitment. He’s certainly got that in the run of games they’ve been on.
“They’ve shown good spirit, they’ve come back from being behind late in games so they have that spirit and character within the team. But can he go on and push Celtic?
“Celtic need a little bit of help, they’ve had a couple of injuries. But take nothing away from the job Clement has done in a short space of time. He’s won a trophy, and when Clement is talking about titles… if that is not a warning sign for Celtic when the opposition manager is pointing out that he may win titles and wants to win them, you’ve got to respond to that. You’ve got to react to that.
“You’ve got to say ‘while I’m manager here, no you won’t.’ I’m going to make sure I’m going to the board, I’m going to bring in the right players to suit the club and to suit the way I want to play, and I’m going to get them onto the pitch and I’m going to stop you from winning titles.’ That’s what Brendan Rodgers will be thinking.”
The upcoming derby on December 30 , following Celtic’s victory in the derby earlier this season, is set to be a crucial encounter in the title race. It’ll be a close-fought encounter, but with 60,000 fans behind the Celtic side, it could be the difference-maker.
It was revealed on Tuesday that there would be no away fans for the derby.
