Five takeaways from Celtic's 'Inside The Huddle' documentary

However, the review of the 2023/24 'double-winning' season was worth the wait as Celtic dropped the latest digital offering 'Inside The Huddle' onto their club channel over the weekend. The club had teased us with Brendan Rodgers's 'Paradise is for us' speech in the preview. It left every Celtic supporter's heart pounding and beating their chests craving more. The hour-long tale of the 2023/24 Scottish Premiership campaign certainly doesn't disappoint.

It's superbly woven together and it tells how over 12 months - prodigal managerial son Rodgers inspired, Callum McGregor was a true leader, Adam Idah had an unforgettable few months in his career, Matt O'Riley was the perfect ambassador both on and off the field as well as being the coolest guy in the world who'll be sadly missed, Greg Taylor is a guy that you would want to hang about with and call your mate, and Joe Hart was a huge voice and vital presence in the Celtic dressing room.

The documentary captures it all - O'Riley's last-minute winner at Fir Park, Idah's knack for popping up with crucial goals, the tension and drama of the Glasgow derbies, the Scottish Cup semi-final win over Aberdeen on penalties, the league clincher at Rugby Park against Kilmarnock and the last-gasp Scottish Cup victory. It's all there, as they say, and all laid bare in glorious technicolour.

The Celtic Way's Tony Haggerty picked out his 5 best moments from 'Inside The Huddle'...

1) Access to Brendan Rodgers's masterful dressing room speeches and insight into how he prepares the Celtic players:

This was a standout feature from the documentary which starts with the manager himself acknowledging that there was initial scepticism of his return. "I'm here to win", the Irishman said when he was unveiled before uttering the immortal phrase: "For those whom I have to convince, I will see you here in May." He did see the Celtic supporters in May. He was armed with two pieces of silverware too. The 51-year-old showed exactly when he is an elite-level manager. There is no mistaking that Celtic have a top manager at the helm and that he is in control of the football side of the operation. There is no doubting the Irishman is in charge. It will be a long time before Celtic have a managerial operator like Rodgers in situ. A new contract must be in the offing. The little snippets from Rodgers's team talks are the gold nuggets in this production. This is where Rodges comes into his own. He oozes gravitas. He commands total respect. He is always calm and measured even when he is addressing his troops ahead of a Glasgow derby. The dressing room is always hushed whenever he speaks. His every word is held onto. It's blood-stirring, emotional stuff that every Celtic supporter will lap up. It leaves every Celtic fan wishing they had fulfilled their dream of playing for Celtic whilst serving under a manager like Rodgers. If this doesn't give you goosebumps then you are not feeling what it's like to be Celtic. Rodgers never loses sight of the fact that when you represent Celtic as Tommy Burns famously said: "You are playing for a community and a cause."

2) Callum McGregor is a Captain... Leader... Legend.

You won't know what you had until it's gone. The prospect of Callum McGregor stepping away from Celtic should fill the supporters with fear. Callum McGregor is a Captain...Leader...Legend at Celtic. The fact that you learn McGregor has developed a comedic habit of saying 'eh' after every sentence when he talks to the Celtic players says a lot about the influence and inspiration that the man he replaced as the skipper had on him. McGregor is quite simply sensational in his role as captain. He talks the Celtic supporters through the processes that the team went through in the campaign even during the moments of adversity. The huddle in the wake of the 2-0 defeat at home to Hearts when the atmosphere at Celtic Park was threatening to turn 'toxic' is particularly telling. It was McGrgeor who kept a calm head and told the players that they would have to take defeats on the chin and come out swinging. It was McGregor who was constantly cajoling the players in the dressing room and on the training field. He stepped up and reminded them at one point during the title run-in not to 'waste a minute of football'. There is also some superb unique range footage of when Idah scored the last-minute winner in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden it was McGregor who ran to the fans and reminded them that Rangers still had time to get back into the contest. He roused the supporters by telling them to roar their heroes over the line. He also got five players in a mini-huddle to warn them to keep up their concentration and energy levels. McGregor has never lost a cup final. It's not hard to see why. Incredible. Inspirational. A bit like Broon - eh?

Read more:

• Why Celtic's 'Inside The Huddle' is box office like Rodgers

• The surreal origins of the Celtic huddle: An iconic ritual born from suffering

3) Daizen Maeda's unique camera angle 'goal' and celebration against Rangers is footage for the ages

If ever a moment captured the triumph and ecstasy of the 2023/24 football season it was this. Daizen Maeda's cross from the left that was subsequently turned home into his own net by Rangers midfielder John Lundstrum to put the hosts 2-0 up in the final Glasgow derby of the season saw Celtic all but clinch the title. The 2-1 victory saw Celtic move six points clear of their rivals with two games left to play in the Scottish Premiership campaign. The unique camera angle is fixated on Japanese wide man Maeda who ultimately loses it completely and barnstorms the crowd and jumps into the stands to celebrate with them. The sheer unadulterated joy etched on Maeda’s face is pure, raw emotion, energy, excitement and passion. It’s a joyful moment in sport and Celtic history. It's even funnier because Maeda is normally so humble and reserved whenever it comes to his goal celebrations. The Celtic Park steward had a hell of a job retrieving Maeda from his adoring public but he got there in the end. Maeda himself would probably admit that it was the best yellow card he had ever received in his life. If you are of a green and white hue, you could watch Maeda's face and reaction on a loop as the ball hits the net. For that moment alone Maeda's popularity at Celtic will endure.

(Image: Craig Williamson - SNS Group)

4) Joe Hart was a big presence in that Celtic dressing room

Celtic was good for Joe Hart. Joe Hart was also good for Celtic. What a leader and what a voice he had in that changing room. The experienced, wily campaigner could never have imagined bowing out of football with the perfect ending to his season and his career. The tears that he shed as he tucked the Scottish Premiership and Scottish Cup winners' medals into his hipper were felt by football fans the world over alike. Hart's voice boomed around the dressing room his energy permeated every game but he always deferred to his captain McGregor for the last words. The documentary focuses a bit on Hart's decision to quit and how it was impeccably handled by the player and the club. The nail-biting tension of the dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Aberdeen at Hampden Park is recaptured as Hart went from zero to hero after crashing a spot-kick off the post and then redeeming himself by saving the crucial effort in sudden death that sent Celtic into the final against Rangers. Hart also waxes lyrical about the special banner that the supporters unveiled for him on the day Celtic lifted the Premiership trophy against St Mirren. As Hart evocatively said: "It's one of the greatest days of my professional life. I've never, ever felt like that... That feeling was indescribable." Hart has the hearts and minds of every Celtic supporter now. As a club, Celtic now has the best ambassador not on the payroll for life. They are in good hands.

5) The camaraderie and togetherness of the Celtic team are strong but Greg Taylor seems a cut above as a teammate

Rodgers has always said he doesn't just sign good players he signs good people. They are all featured here. Hart, McGregor, O'Riley, Maeda, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Tony Ralston, Adam Idah, Stephen Welsh, Alistair Johnston and of course Taylor. The left-back is the epitome of what Gordon Strachan famously labelled a good teammate. Taylor is serious about his football when he talks about the game on camera. Off it, he looks like he possesses a great sense of humour and clearly has a bit of devilment in him. The player who is in the final year of his contract will have done his new deal cause no harm at all by shouting down the camera lens: "Three in a row, sorry", on the team bus journey back to Celtic Park after the 5-0 title-clinching hammering of Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. Taylor is the player you would want to go out for a pint with. The Celtic supporters would want to be Taylor's mate. It was Taylor who gave it bog licks during the singing of 'Walk-on' in the aftermath of the double being won as the players and managers all gathered together in the centre circle to celebrate with the green and white hordes. It was Taylor who kick-started the Scottish Cup celebrations inside too when he performed a 'Jurgen Klinsmann' dive in the Hampden dressing room to get the party up and running. Carter-Vickers duly joined in. You get the feeling that Taylor as a Scottish player is just as important a voice within the group of players and that he is listened to. He has a big and amiable personality and deserved a contract for those qualities alone let alone his outstanding displays.