Buckie Thistle boss Graeme Stewart praises Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers as 'class act' after dressing room speech
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BUCKIE Thistle manager Graeme Stewart praised Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers and called him a 'class act' after he gave a speech in the Jags dressing room at Parkhead.
Shortly after both sets of players had left the field after the home side's 5-0 win, Rodgers made his way into the visiting dressing room to praise the Buckie players and their set-up.
The home side's players also took the time to swap shirts, sign autographs and pose for a few photographs with the Jags players.
Stewart said: “Brendan Rodgers came into our changing room after the game and was a class act.
"He did a wee speech and said he was delighted with our attitude, they gave us so much respect and took it seriously which was good.
"He said to come in and they were giving us strips and signing strips which was brilliant. None of the players were in our changing room after the game, they were all in the Celtic changing room.
“They didn’t have to do that, one or two of them asked for our strips and I said to the guys they will be getting fined because the strips cost £50!
“The players and staff at Celtic were class like everyone here we have dealt with. It’s been a fantastic experience with Celtic and I can only praise them."
On the park, Celtic went full strength and defeated the Jags thanks to three first-half goals and two after the break.
Stewart couldn't fault his side's efforts. He added: “The guys put in a big shift, you couldn’t fault their effort and determination.
"We are not happy getting beat 5-0, but I can’t fault them. We had one training session to plan that shape, we have never played that shape before.
“In the Highland League we’re normally dominating possession a bit like Celtic did. We had one training session on Friday night and a few meeting on Saturday in the hotel.
“I thought we were superb, I don’t want to get too carried away because a few of the goals were avoidable, but apart from that I was happy with the performance.
"The guys did themselves proud and did as well as could be expected. They’ve got memories and mementos for the rest of their lives."
Buckie managed to frustrate Celtic for 25 minutes before on-loan Benfica man Paulo Bernardo opened the scoring.
Stewart added: “When you get to 25 minutes and it’s 0-0 you start thinking ‘what’s happening here?’
“At that point we were thinking we could get to half-time, that was the aim and I remember thinking ‘just get to half-time.’
“But a few quick goals and it was kind of finished. We could have capitulated, we spoke about that at half-time.
“The attitude was tremendous, in the changing room the boys are out on their feet, cramping up and everything, I’m delighted with them.
And a special word went to the travelling support, with Stewart hopeful that a few that visited Parkhead today will turn up to support the Jags week in, week out.
“They were brilliant, we went over and clapped them for five or 10 minutes and took lots of photos," he added.
“The fans were amazing and I hope they keep coming back to home games to boost that and help the club grow."
