The Last Word With Tony Hamilton

Tony Hamilton is back for one week only. Again. Talking about five folk who’ve caught his eye…

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BRENDAN Rodgers, was appointed Celtic manager two years ago this week. That’s not a long time when you compare him with our first manager, Willie Maley, or our greatest manager ever, Jock Stein.

But in that short period he has secured lifelong hero status among the Celtic support. He has obliterated everything in his path domestically, winning the matches he had to win, while the records just keep on tumbling down. He hasn’t got involved in the noise, the hype, the hysteria, or who’s coming or who is closing gaps. His focus has been on his own team and we’ve been the beneficiaries of that.

These are very special days at this football club and I suspect there’s more to come. And if he can keep this up, he may even convince the esteemed voters of the Scottish Football Writers’ Association that he merits the top managerial prize next season.

Then again, should he lead Celtic to fifth in the Premiership, he’d be guaranteed gold, right…?

ALISON McConnell, former Celtic View reporter, invited me to said SFWA awards event 10 days ago.

The first highlight for me was catching up with the great Ian ‘Dino’ Paul, a wonderful retired writer and a genuinely lovely man, who helped me through some dark times back in the day.