Let there be no doubt about it; this is what leaders do.
Last night, Brendan Rodgers demonstrated, once again, why he is the indispensable figure at Celtic Park when he praised the Celtic fans as “award winners” for our good behaviour when the media asked him about Shay Logan’s frankly ridiculous claim that he was subjected to racist abuse during his club’s visit to Parkhead at the end of last season.
Brendan is not a man to hold back when he has something to say, and it was almost as if he relished the question.
He answered it bluntly, and made it clear what he thinks of it.
It couldn’t be more clear that he believes the allegation is nonsense.
“The Celtic supporters were voted the best supporters in the world. That says it all in terms of the ambiance at the stadium and how they behave themselves. It’s not something the Celtic supporters are ever renowned for. It’s a wonderful atmosphere at Celtic Park.”
Logan’s allegation comes nearly two months after the match, and is the first anyone has heard of this supposed racist chanting.
Nothing was raised at the time, either by Logan or by his club.
It is difficult to shake the idea that this has come to pass because the question was put to him and he decided to try and excuse his own actions that day.
Those actions, as I’m sure you’ll recall, resulted in a red card.
To give them credit for once, the press hasn’t blown the story out of proportion, but they have covered it as I knew they would and as they were fully entitled to do. The allegation itself is so serious that it required a response from Celtic Park. The club decided not to publicly speak on it, but I had a feeling that Brendan would.
We are lucky to have this guy.
We should all be grateful to him for reminding the world of what we’re all about, not that anyone outside Scotland needed it.