Thomas Rogne’s starring role against Rangers finally put the lid on the only – non-injury – black mark on his Celtic career

AN UNENDING run of niggling injuries isn’t all that has placed a question mark over where Thomas Rogne’s undoubted talent might take him at Celtic.

With 16 clean sheets from the 25 starts he has made across two years in Glasgow, the 21-year-old has brought presence and poise to the club’s defence in a manner not always true of his many senior rivals for the centre-back berths. Except on one occasion.

Until his Sky Man of the Match showing in the derby win for Neil Lennon’s men on Wednesday, which allowed Celtic to claim pole position in the SPL by dint of a remarkable 17-point swing inside two months, recollections of Rogne would probably have centred on his bullying by Nikica Jelavic in March’s League Cup final. The youngster was withdrawn before the extra-time period in which Rangers triumphed but it was later claimed that Lennon would struggle to trust him in the fixture again if his task was shackling the Croatian. In midweek, pitched in for his first 90 minutes in seven weeks, Rogne did so comprehensively and fully accepts the personal importance of doing so.

“I thought I had something to prove,” he said at Lennoxtown this week. “I was sick the week before the League Cup final and didn’t feel all right on the pitch either.”

Rogne has certainly done alright. He has never actually been on the pitch when Celtic have lost, the only two defeats in his 30 appearances coming against Rangers when he has been substituted because of ailments. Indeed, it has been the player’s own body more than the many bodies who could be utilised at centre-back that has restricted his outings since he was signed by Tony Mowbray for £200,000 from Stabaek in January 2010. “It has been frustrating,” Rogne said. “It’s not like there has been one big injury but two-week small ones: muscle strains, the calf, the hamstring. It is strange because I’ve never had this before. I hope I am done with it now.

“When I’ve been fit and in shape, and able to train for a period of time, the manager has given me the chance to play. There have been a lot of good centre halves here since the day I came. I’ve been really grateful for every opportunity I’ve had and if I stay fit now I might get more games.”

Rogne doesn’t rule out the possibility that the micro-climate at Lennoxtown, where higher precipitation levels can make the training pitches greasy, may not have helped his cause. “It is hard to say,” he said. “There has been a lot of rain and it hasn’t been easy for guys to make sure the pitches are OK. They have been slippery and you have to use a lot of muscle. Sometimes that can overload something else.”

Lennon is determined to add a new central defender in the January transfer window to a club collection that comprises the Norwegian, Charlie Mulgrew, Kelvin Wilson, Daniel Majstorovic and Glenn Loovens, the final two in that list currently sidelined with injury. Rogne does not seem unduly troubled by competition in his department being further ramped up. “It is always going to be like this,” Rogne said. “We want good players.”

Celtic also need fit players and the under-21 Norwegian internationalist, who lost a year of his career to a cruciate ligament injury in 2008, currently cannot be relied upon to remain in good health. If this were not an issue, there is every possibility the experienced defender Lennon is looking to sign in the coming weeks would be brought in to partner the promising Rogne.

Assistant manager Johan Mjallby admitted the other day that the club may have to look to manage Rogne’s playing and conditioning as, for example, Tottenham Hotspur do with Ledley King, the club captain rarely featuring in more than one game a week. However, unlike the chronic knee problems which will never be alleviated with the 31-year-old King, it is hoped that the tweaks hampering Rogne might be put down to the fact the young man is 6ft 1in and rising.

“He has a big body to carry and is still young and still growing,” Mjallby said. “I think that might be one of the causes why he has been picking up so many injuries. It is hard to manage his training. Usually when a player is injured you try to train them really hard to make sure they are fit enough. But it has been a bit difficult with Thomas because when we have been trying to work him hard he has been breaking down. I think we understand more and more about Thomas, and he is understanding more and more as well. He knows he is a talented boy and a good player and is important for us if fit. It has been a frustrating time for us and Thomas. Maybe something we need to think about if we have three games in a week is that a player like Thomas can’t be selected all the time. But if you look at that last game, we want to have him fit and always ready for selection.”

Rogne, and Celtic, should have had sufficient rest time to be prepared for facing bottom-of-the-table Dunfermline at East End Park tomorrow as they seek a tenth straight league win. The same, though, might have been thought when they travelled to Motherwell in February a week after their last derby victory, which brought up a ten-game league run of nine wins and a draw. What ensued was a 2-0 loss to the Lanarkshire men that proved pivotal in Celtic ultimately failing to wrest the title from their Ibrox rivals.

“That is why I think the Dunfermline game is so important for us,” Mjallby said when reminded of their unexpected Fir Park slip-up. “We probably have a bigger job now than normally in management to make sure the players stay focused. This game against Dunfermline is as important as the Old Firm game because it is only three points. As a player you probably get more fired up for the Old Firm match because it is such a massive game, but taking the lead in the league and this big turnaround should just give them great encouragement.

“They have been working so hard in the last two months and it is paying off. If you don’t keep doing this you might not get the chance to get these kind of results again.

“They only difference this time [from February] is that we gave them two days off instead of one, but it is good to have that last experience for all of us. We need to tell them to get back to the same focus and work-rate because it has obviously been a big turnaround. Even with this great run we have gone on, though, if you’d asked me I couldn’t have expected to be top of the league before the new year.

“There may not be any pressure on Dunfermline but you always have to give every team respect and when we had our bad spell we were probably not working hard enough. The bonus for us now is that we have some of our key players in great shape and top form.”

In the case of Rogne, the key is keeping him that way.