Brendan Rodgers lays out Celtic transfer timeline for 'one or two' signings as he reveals how stars will spend winter break

The Hoops gaffer faces one final clash in Paisley with St Mirren before the top flight goes into cold storage for a few weeks.

It's been a testing first few months back in the job for Brendan Rodgers.

He was smart enough to know before he even signed on the dotted line that he faced a fight just to win over hearts and minds of those fans who never forgave him for leaving them for Leicester City in the first place. That task became a little bit stiffer when Celtic lost their grip on the first silverware of the season with the early season League Cup defeat at Kilmarnock which cancelled any chance of retaining Big Ange’s treble.

And the sight of bitter rivals Rangers celebrating lifting that very trophy at Hampden last month - at a moment in time when Rodgers was struggling to maintain a lead at the top of the Premiership table - ramped up the pressure to just around boiling point. So when some of the steam came off after Saturday’s Old Firm victory, it’s little wonder if the 50-year-old heaved out a huge sigh of relief. He’s not out of the woods yet of course. Celtic’s eight point lead will look a lot less emphatic if Rangers should win their two games in hand. But, for the time being at least, a potentially critical situation has been stabilised. A win over St Mirren will further reduce the stress levels and allow Rodgers to go into the winter break perhaps wondering what all the fuss was about.

“We’re absolutely fine,” Rodgers said when asked if rumours of Celtic’s demise may have been greatly exaggerated. He went on: “Sadly it’s the noise that follows a Celtic or a Rangers team. But I’m experienced enough to tune out of the noise. I can focus on the progress of the team and I can see players developing and I can see players improving. I can see where we can get better too.

“I have picked up this squad at a different time to when I picked up the last squad when I first arrived. So there can be a little bit of a drop off with one or two. But the job is to maintain that standard or performance and mentality, as I’ve said to the players. It’s my job to drive that and I will do.”

And yet Rodgers is acutely aware of the scrutiny he is under, second time around. Having arrived amidst a flurry of rose petals when he first crossed the border in May 2016, the Northern Irishman acknowledges he’s now trying to please a tougher crowd.

He said: “It was never going to be the same as the first time. Me coming in mark II is totally different to mark I. It was always going to be that way - it’s a different group and a different set up of players.

“It’s totally different and not just because of the squad. When I came in the first time the team had won the league but they were still hungry and determined for more. We wanted to win the best way we possibly could so we could then elevate the team and the individuals to have that hunger to go on. Over those next two years the players achieved that and they were absolutely brilliant.

“This group of players are further on in that cycle. They are at the end of the two years. They’ve had their two year block of success. And then different things start to happen when you’re a Celtic player after two years, you know?

“So you’re having to recalibrate it all again and obviously that’s why it takes a little bit more time. But this is a club where you don’t get a lot of time.”

Saturday’s 2-1 win over Rangers has bought him some of it nonetheless. But Rodgers realises the importance of backing that victory up with another three points in Paisley. This, after all, does not feel like an appropriate moment to start taking the foot off the gas.

He nodded: “I have experience of warning against that. Listen, the performances are never perfect so there is always plenty to analyse on where you could be better and where you could improve.

“But listen, when you win a big game it’s really important that you go and bring that same energy into the team for the next one. We’re performing now with a style and a steel that I want to see in the team.

“Against Livingston and Dundee we didn’t give away so much. Then against Rangers we again didn’t give up very much in the game either.

“So the work rate, mentality and consistency that’s so important is improving all the time. But we need to bring that into every game.”

Once this game is out of the way, Rodgers will allow his players to put their feet up for a few days while he slides two footed into the January transfer market. What happens next could determine a whole more than just the outcome of this season’s title fight.

But, while Rodgers fully recognises the importance of these next few weeks, he also appreciates the importance of letting the players he already has to rest up and recuperate for the big push towards May.

He said: ”The players will get a little bit of time - they need that. They’ll have a break to maybe spend a wee bit of time with their families.

“They’ll have some work they need to do while they’re away but it’s a good chance to reset before going again. We have a spell without any games before we play in the Scottish Cup. So we can do a lot of work in that period.

“We’ll hopefully have some of the injured players back and maybe one or two in the door. Then we push on for the second half of the season. There will be no winter break next season and that’s a real shame.

“I think if you look at players throughout Britain, and especially up here, you see the amount of injuries. That’s especially true if you’re playing European football.

“The players aren’t robots but somehow it’s deemed that they are. But we’ll take the break this season, for sure, and maximise the time to get some good work in.”

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