Neil McCann believes that Brendan Rodgers is playing mind games with Rangers in the press.
Rodgers is using every bit of his extensive experience to steer the team through a tightly contested Scottish Premiership title race.
This past Saturday, after Celtic’s victory over St Mirren, Rodgers engaged in what former Rangers striker Neil McCann described as “psychological warfare.” Rodgers’ comments post-match were seen as an attempt to ramp up the pressure on Rangers, their city rivals and closest competitors for the title.
McCann, speaking on the Scottish Football Podcast, interpreted Rodgers’ remarks as strategically placed to get under Rangers’ skin.
He said: “I did the games at the weekend and I thought Brendan Rodgers’ post-match presser, his interview was something of the psychology element about it.
“You know he was saying, ‘We’re Celtic, this is when we come alive.’
“And it was almost as if you read between the lines, that’s what I did, I looked at it and I thought, ‘He’s just applying a bit of gentle pressure that they [Rangers] will hear.’
“Now whether they don’t watch highlights or they don’t read papers or whatever I think they will be generally aware of comments.
“And it’s just an application of psychological warfare that happens at this time of the season particularly when the two sides are so close together.”
Celtic fans have had the belief that Rodgers has built this ‘everyone is against us and we’ll prove them wrong’ mentality in the dressing room, coming out and talking about a narrative against Celtic. He’s even said that the story has been written for Celtic this season, but the players are writing their own one.
