There's never a usually quiet week when you are at a club like Celtic... ever.

However, this week might just have been history-making in the sense that despite it being the first Glasgow derby of the 2024/25 season the focus of attention has been on anything but the renewal of hostilities between Celtic and Rangers.

Last-minute transfers as well as the respective Champions League and Europa League football draws took centre stage and the derby match trailed in a distant third in the order of merit. This weekend's derby encounter can lay credible claims to being the least hyped Celtic versus Rangers match of all time.

At 11 pm on Friday. All bets were off. All eyes were being trained on Celtic Park. Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers likes his boxing analogies so it was a case of seconds out as both teams retreated into their respective green and blue corners. It remains to be seen if it will be a one-sided contest favouring the men in green and white or if it will become a bit of a slugfest. In terms of mood music heading into this one, the notes played by both clubs could not be more stark.

It's been a bit of a good news week for Celtic with the club smashing their own club transfer record by shelling out £11 million for Belgian international midfielder Arne Engels from Bundesliga side Augsburg as well as recruiting £6 million left-sided centre-back Auston Trusty from Sheffield United. Right up until the 11 pm deadline, Celtic were still active in the market, bringing in Dundee captain Luke McCowan on a three-year deal.

It was a good news week all right.

Rodgers sports an incredible derby record having managed in 16 of them. He's won 12, drawn three and lost just once. However, Rodgers will treat the latest instalment of the Glasgow derby no differently from the rest. He'll tell his players to act like he always does and treat it like it is their very first experience of one of football's most notorious, ferocious, and world-renowned derbies. For some like Engels, Trusty, McCowan and on-loan Barcelona left-back Alex Valle it could well be.

Rodgers admits that whilst a week like this one can be tiring per se he never tires of preparing his side to face Rangers. His record will count for nothing come Sunday and Celtic are the overwhelming favourites having had such an impressive start to the season with four Scottish Premiership and League Cup wins on the bounce, scoring 12 goals in the process and conceding just one goal in the process. The Irishman though loves it all. He wouldn't want to be anywhere else than in the thick of it during a derby.

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He said: "There’s no getting away from it, it is a very tiring week. I’m very fortunate here because I’ve got amazing staff.

"The manager sits here and does the press and everything else and manages everything but I’ve got brilliant coaches that manage the coaching aspect of it really well. I’ve got a recruitment team that has worked tirelessly every single day, and then I manage it all. It’s time, it’s a long day, but it always is. We’ve got Celtic-Rangers at the end of it all. It’s a great life and I cannot complain.

"No matter how many I've been involved in, I treat it and ask the players to treat it like their first game. The experience that lots of the players have had in it is great, but you cannot assume that you can just turn up and play in these games, regardless of your record in the past.

"You have to have a real focus and clarity on what you want to do, but I think we have a nice rhythm. For us, we prepare for a big game in every single game that we play. Our preparations are always the same. It’s been the same, we’ve been very focused and detailed, giving clarity to the players and not being overly tense in the preparation but just bringing that calmness to it all. We’ll look forward to delivering it over the weekend.

"I think every game is. Whether it’s the first one or the last one. Every Celtic-Rangers game means everything. I think for me, it’s important for us to look to continue with our momentum and our mentality going into these games has been very good. For us, we want to perform, and that’s a process. That’s our only focus, and then we look to see what the result brings. We never create that story (being favourites). That will be created by you guys (the media). As professional football players and coaches and managers, we prepare for the game, and these games in particular - there’s a different psyche in them.

"For us, we’re coming into it in a really good place, but we’re never assuming that we don’t have to do the work. You have to do the dirty side of the game and be together and unified. Then, you need to bring your football in and see how difficult you can make it for the opponent. What do I expect from Rangers? The challenge most of all. People can sometimes assume that when you are doing well and everything is going great you can just turn up and win. That is a very dangerous way to think and that's why at Celtic we never ever do that.

"We are in a really, really good place as a team from a football perspective. The level that we are playing at with and without the ball is really pleasing. We come into these games. They are different as they are emotional games. What I have always tried to do with these games is to focus on the performance and the players have prepared really well all this week. Rangers will come in and it will be a tough game.

"I still get a buzz from every single one. I feel it is always like my first game because I know what it means to everyone. I understand the feeling and I understand the journeys of the Celtic support. I know what it means. We’ll go into it and be ready for a tough game. It’s the first one of many this season and we’re really excited by it. There’s always satisfaction whenever you win - whether you’re a favourite or against the odds. Winning any Derby game is always special. My feeling is always happiness and joy, then it’s about reflective analysis of the game to see areas of improvement and where better is required - and look to take that forward.

"You’re going to have millions of people watching this game, wishing and loving to be a part of it. My feeling is I’m very lucky to be right in it. That’s my approach every single time. We’re in it to win and play well so that’s a good feeling if we can do that at the end."

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(Image: Paul Devlin - SNS Group)

The Champions League draw was also kind to the Scottish champions as Rodgers's men could have no complaints with the inaugural league phase schedule. Last season's beaten Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund, Europa League winners Atalanta, English Premier League and former European Cup winners Aston Villa as well as RB Leipzig, Slovan Bratislava, Club Brugge, GNK Dinamo, and Young Boys were all spat out by the new AI-generated supercomputer courtesy of the hand of Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

The fates were kind to Rodgers's men as it could have been worse...much worse. It's a raft of games that the 51-year-old reckons Celtic have a fighting chance in. Rodgers and the Celtic fans desperately crave success in the European arena. It's the last remaining box that is left to tick for the Celtic manager who has dominated domestically during his two stints thus far and waltzed off with nine piece of silverware to date.

Rodgers said: "The Champions League draw was absolutely brilliant. We all love the draw and everything else before. I thought it was really well done. The teams that we have drawn are fantastic. We are playing against the Champions League finalists, the Europa League winners, amongst the other teams.

"It is so exciting from a manager's perspective as well as the players. We will get a chance to play against the best in Europe and there are some exciting cities for the supporters to go to. We are here for the football and we want to make a mark in that tournament. It was a great draw and the different teams and different thoughts around it all but it is really exciting for us. That's the plan. We are not there to participate in the competition we want to be competitive in it. We have to remember it is the elite level of club football. People will look at some teams and think that's easy but that is not the way football works.

"For me, it is a brilliant draw and I am really excited by it. The players and staff will be too when it comes."

Will Celtic be better equipped this time around to cope with elite-level Champions League football?

Rodgers said: "I think so. We tried some things in pre-season against Man City and Chelsea that worked well for us against a calibre of opponents that will ask different questions of us, so we looked at things tactically with slight little tweaks and adjustments that can work well for us.

"This is what I love about this team, the constant evolution of the game and the constant improvement. They’re more accustomed to me now and what I demand and want. There’s a real focus and clarity, and you see that on the pitch. I’m excited by the Champions League and what that can bring. It’ll be positive.

"We’ve been here before! The key thing is not to underestimate and not to assume because we’re playing Club Brugge that they’ve maybe not got good players there or RB Leipzig. There is nothing easy at this level of competition. Okay, you may not be playing the team that’s won 14 times, but it doesn’t mean the other teams aren’t any good. What it does give us is that confidence in our game. It allows us an opportunity to make our mark at that level. That was always what we wanted to be able to do.

"The home games will be equally as tough in different ways as the away games but some of the big glamour ties have been seen to be away, but the home games will be tough games for us. We will be ready, and we’ll have the support, and the stadium will be on absolute fire. I cannot wait."

For the time being, Zadok's 'The Priest' - or the Champions League theme music as it is better known - can wait, especially when the small matter of a game of association football taking place in Glasgow's east end.

You would never have known that this week. If Rodgers and Celtic can cap good news week off with another scintillating derby display and excellent result then they will move five points clear of their city rivals. For Rodgers, it will simply be a case of business as usual.

Then again there's never a quiet or dull moment in the life of the Celtic manager.