Thursday Round-Up: Brendan Rodgers Speaks...And You Will Listen

THE BIG STORY: Brendan Rodgers spoke to the media ahead of Saturday's game against St Johnstone, and he made some interesting comments. Like the rest of us, he was shocked that Scott Brown was omitted from the player of the year nominations, and compared him to Chelsea's N'Golo Kante. He condemned the racist abuse that Scott Sinclair received at Ibrox, and hopes that players will still want to play in Scotland despite this. He also said that part of his job next season is to increase 'the gap' between Celtic and third placed Rangers. Regarding the St Johnstone game, Rodgers revealed that Mikael Lustig will miss the game as he is being rested.

SITE NEWS: What a treat for the listeners - my solo mini episode of @GIGPOD is out for you to listen to. Listen here. We wrote a feature on Kris Commons' time at Celtic, featuring many clips of some of his finest moments at Celtic, give it a read here.

OTHER NEWS: Celtic will be launching our new 1967 inspired kit with an event at Celtic Park which will be live streamed on Celtic's Facebook page, if anything interesting happens we'll keep you updated. Here's the hype video for the launch.

What we do know is that Celtic will have a new badge next season, inspired by the Lisbon Lions.

Stuart Armstrong has said that being moved from playing on the wing last season to the centre of midfield this season has made a big difference to him as a player.

ON THIS DAY: In 1996, Celtic ended our first season back at the new Celtic Park with a 4-1 win over Raith Rovers. Jorge Cadete opened the scoring after only 2 minutes, with Stuart Gray and Peter Grant making it 3 before half-time. After Raith pulled a goal back Cadete added his second just after the hour.