Manager: We've built towards Sunday's match and we're well prepared

In partnership with

Celtic F.C.

·1. August 2025

Manager: We've built towards Sunday's match and we're well prepared

Celtic return to competitive business this weekend, with St Mirren the visitors to Celtic Park for Flag Day on Sunday (August 3, 2025).

The Bhoys’ pre-season fixture schedule came to a conclusion last Saturday with a penalty-shootout win over Saudi Arabian side Al-Ahli in Italy.

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And with the defence of the Scottish Premiership title beginning on Sunday, Celtic Manager Brendan Rodgers says that his side have worked hard to be ready for the season ahead.

Speaking to the press at Lennoxtown today, Brendan said: “When you do all of your preparation work in pre-season, it’s always built towards this moment.

“The players are really well prepared. We’ve worked very hard over the course of pre-season.

‘From our work here at Lennoxtown when we came back, to Cork, Portugal and Lake Como, the preparation has been so good.’

“The guys that are here have worked so hard. Everyone at the club has put together a fantastic pre-season programme for us.

“Now we arrive in to these last couple of days and we’re ready for Flag Day which is a special day for us."

As ever, the Celts will be targeting as much silverware as possible over the coming year, following on from last season’s league and League Cup double.

For Brendan, though, he says that he wants to win by continuing to play football the Celtic way, as he explained what his ambitions are for the upcoming campaign.

“The aim as a Celtic manager is always to dominate every competition.” He said. “We have qualification for the Champions League which we want to arrive in to.

“And we want to be competitive in that competition if we arrive there.

‘The pressure here at Celtic isn’t just about winning, but winning with a style of football.’

“That’s always the pursuit of the teams here, to play attacking, aggressive football.

“It’s not just winning, it’s how we win that’s important to us.”

St Mirren travelled to Celtic Park for the final league match of last season and were within seconds of taking all three points before James Forrest fired home a finish just before full-time to secure a draw and extend his scoring run to an incredible 16 consecutive seasons.

And ahead of tomorrow’s match, Brendan Rodgers says that he expects a tough match against Stephen Robinson’s side.

Brendan added: “I watched them in pre-season and studied them. Stephen is an outstanding coach and manager. He’s done a really good at the teams that he’s been at up here.

“We seen in the last game of the season, they make the spaces very tight so we have to be fast, get the ball moving quickly and counter-press really well.

“They are a big, athletic team and will prove a really tough opponent for us. So we know we have to play really well to get the result.”