Tom Rogic could hardly have picked a more familiar moment to stir Celtic supporters. Hours after Celtic beat Hearts to secure title number 56, the former Parkhead midfielder posted on his Instagram story: “Same old story,” followed by “Glasgow is green and white 🍀.”
The timing landed hard. Celtic finished the post-split run with a perfect record, while Rangers, who had gone into those fixtures as favourites, unravelled with four defeats in a row, including a loss to Celtic. By the end of it, Martin O’Neill had secured the championship for Celtic and the mood around Glasgow had flipped in a matter of days.
Rogic’s messages carried extra weight because of what he meant to Celtic over the course of his career. He spent nine trophy-laden years at the club and became one of those players supporters remembered as an underrated figure in the middle of the park, the kind of midfielder whose influence often showed most in the biggest moments. His brief spell at West Bromwich Albion came later, before he retired at the age of 30.
The title win also sharpened the sense that Celtic have taken control of the domestic picture at exactly the right time. Daizen Maeda scored seven goals during the post-split run, helping drive a finish that left Celtic on course for the domestic double and turned what had looked like a tight contest into a runaway endgame.
That is what made Rogic’s post feel so pointed. Rangers had spent heavily last summer and again in the winter, and there had been plenty of talk before the split about them taking the title. Instead, Celtic won every post-split game and finished with the trophy, while the club they were chasing collapsed under pressure. Rogic did not need many words to make the point.
His one-word follow-up — “statue.” — was as blunt as the rest of the reaction and fit the tone of a player who knows Celtic’s habits under pressure. In the end, the question was never whether Celtic could still find a way through. The answer came at Hearts, and it ended with title number 56 in their hands once again.
