Celtic's Brendan Rodgers unfazed by Tony Bloom's Hearts comments and lands big warning

Bloom pumped just under £10 million into the Tynecastle coffers last summer and made a strong proclamation of what his ambitions are for Hearts going forward.

“If we [Hearts] have not won the league title in the next 10 years, I will be very disappointed," he stated at the start of August. "I think Hearts will have an excellent season. I think we can, even from this season, challenge for every tournament that we're in. I think we've got a very good chance of at least being second this season.”

Hearts sit top of the league after eight matches with seven wins and a draw. They lead second-placed Celtic by five points going into Sunday’s showdown between the two teams at Tynecastle and have the chance to increase their lead over the defending champions to eight points.

Celtic suffered their first league defeat of the season when they went down 2-0 to Dundee last weekend, but responded well on Thursday night by defeating Sturm Graz 2-1 in the Europa League.

It gave Rodgers’ men a timely lift for what will be a huge test of their own credentials in Gorgie, but the Celtic boss played it cool when asked what his reaction was when he heard Bloom’s ambitious plans for Hearts earlier in the year.

‘I’ve got enough to worry about’

“I never had any reaction,” said Rodgers. “Tony’s a clever guy, he's done fantastic in his life and business. I know Tony and his brother Darren. If you go back, way back to the time at Brighton when they were coming through the levels and they weren't even at their own ground.

“The job he did at Brighton is and has been amazing. He's obviously seen an opportunity at Hearts. He's come in and looked to add his expertise and knowledge and looked to get them up there. Hearts is one of the biggest clubs up here and they will want to be challenging and be in European football.

“I didn't think anything of it [Bloom’s comments]. I've got enough to worry about with Celtic.”

Rodgers hailed Hearts for their impressive start to the season - but warned them that Celtic still have far more room for improvement.

“Well, I think they've got a really good manager who knows what he wants from his teams in Derek [McInnes],” continued Rodgers. “He knows Hearts is a big club, he knows they've got good players. Obviously they've made a really, really good start. It is still very, very early. I would expect us to get better as we've been so inconsistent.

“Our goals and all that side of it hasn't been where we'd want it to be. But you saw last night that if we can reach these levels against good sides, then we'll do far better. But Hearts have made a really, really good start and deserve to be where they are. They've got the points on the board.”

Rodgers said that his Celtic players didn’t put in a “Ferrari” performance against Sturm Graz, but elevated them from “Honda Civic” to “Range Rover Sport”. He urged his players not to take their foot of the gas when they travel along the M8 for Sunday’s match

“We're not good enough to get carried away,” Rodgers added. “That's the reality. It was a really, really good performance last night. We needed to play well after the weekend. But what pleases me is how the players have dealt with that pressure. We talked about bringing that into the game.

“So, we certainly can't get carried away. But it's really pleasing how well they have played to show that level. And now we have to look to bring that as often as we can.”