Natural process equals a new order under Brendan Rodgers

"You have to be honest with players. Even if it’s a tough conversation, it’s the most humane way and the most direct way to tell them the plan. If that’s to move on and get playing football, then that’s what they have to do.

“Those conversations have already started but it will continue over the next few weeks.”

The words of Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers will have struck such a chord and chimed with the faithful over the weekend.  And not before time.

Rodgers and modern-day managers readily accept that football is a squad game, but it's only a squad game when you have 16 meaningful contributors. Celtic's current squad is bloated - of that there is no doubt.

New eras tend to lead to home truths for footballers. New regimes also mean bad news for some players.

The clean slate analogy does not necessarily apply to all, which is Rodgers trimming the excess fat from a football squad is a natural process.

It is only fair that the second coming of the Northern Irishman to Celtic kicked off with a period of assessment. That assessment has been going on at Celtic ever since the first team players returned to training in July and has continued apace in Portugal.

Portuguese superstar Jota has fled the green and white nest. Aaron Mooy has called it a day. On the surface of it, to those outside looking and the popular school of thought is that Celtic have been significantly weakened.

Have they? On the left-wing, maybe.

To my knowledge, all of the rest of last season's players are still in situ with the promise of more stellar acquisitions to come.

Time will tell on that front, of course, but Rodgers isn't just idly sitting by and hoping that last season's world record domestic treble holders will simply press their foot on the pedal and all will be well on planet football again once the domestic ball starts rolling for real again come early August.

Rodgers has gone to work.

Norwegian midfielder Odin Thiago Holm and Australian winger Marco Tilio have been added to the squad, whilst Celtic awaits the official confirmation of South Korean duo Yang Hyun-jun and Kwon Hyeok-kyu.

There may well be a plethora of new arrivals down Govan way, but Rodgers Celtic certainly ain't standing still. This is the new Celtic, after all.

The Celtic hierarchy, scouting and recruitment departments conduct their business differently now, as if you didn't know.

READ MORE: Tete scouted: Will Celtic level-up in Europe thanks to him

Brazilian winger Tete looks set to quit Shakhtar Donetsk, with reports in Ukraine claiming that Celtic are strong contenders to sign the 23-year-old soon-to-be free agent.

He spent last season on loan in France with Lyon and Leicester City, where he worked with new Parkhead boss Rodgers.

Tete and former Celtic star Kieran Tierney remain persons of interest for the Scottish champions. It remains to be seen if either or both players will be asked the question and ultimately sign on the dotted line.

It's all very exciting for the Celtic faithful as the speculation intensifies each day as to the calibre and quality of the player that Rodgers is seeking to bring into the club.

Rest assured, Rodgers is all over this.

Last week, I took to the social media site Twitter and posted words to this effect "There is a great Bill Shankly clip from the 1970s where the managerial legend is talking about the Liverpool squad.

Shankly leaves the players in no uncertain terms as to what life is like at a big football club. In his gruff Scottish accent, Shankly reminds his players that from the moment they walk in the door, they are being scrutinised, scanned, and assessed.

"Rather menacingly the piece ends with Shankly saying soon we will get to know everything there is to know about you."

That's the natural process that Rodgers is alluding to. It is this precise stage where he is at right now at Celtic.

It would be remiss and churlish of him to simply dismiss what he has at his fingertips and his disposal at the club. However, it has to be a quick process. Difficult conversations have to be had.

It is largely why the new cool, cold, calculating, ruthless and efficient Rodgers won't hang around.

How can Rodgers make his Celtic team better domestically and in Europe this season? By being multiple-choice answer E - all of the above - cold, calculating, ruthless and efficient.

Time and Celtic wait for no player or manager for that matter.

To quote Celtic Way columnist Kevin McKenna from a Christmas Day piece in 2022.

McKenna said: "In the Brendan Rodgers era it had become clear that the club’s transfer strategy was not wholly controlled by the manager. This became ruinously clear during the Covid season when a glut of bizarre signings undermined Neil Lennon’s efforts to secure 10 in a row.

"Under (Ange) Postecoglou there is a sense of all the stars coming into alignment; of taking no shortcuts and leaving nothing to chance. This has been perhaps the most notable feature of 2022."

It's Rodgers that has inherited the stars coming into alignment since Postecoglou's switch to Tottenham Hotspur in the summer.

Celtic are in a good place domestically as well as financially. It's 'Europeanally' where the club want to make its mark.

This is why Rodgers comments on those players who will soon be jettisoned from Celtic's squad - his team - made for interesting reading.

Plenty of players won't make the final cut.

Some legacy signings from the season that shall not be named like Ismaila Soro, Liam Shaw, Albian Ajeti, Osaze Urhoghide and James McCarthy to name a few are still in the building but they probably won't be for long.

They never quite hit the mark under the managerial Wizard from Oz.

It will be down to Rodgers to deliver the bad news that it will be the end of the green-and-white brick road for them.

Mikey Johnston may well be granted a stay of execution until January due to the nature of his back injury.

Question marks still remain over David Turnbull, Stephen Welsh and Liam Scales as well as goalkeepers Scott Bain and - to a lesser extent - Benjamin Siegrist.

Celtic's Scottish Premiership title defence kicks off in under three weeks' time against Ross County Parkhead on August 5. Players will come and players will go.

The ones who leave will also trim the wage bill in the process and leave even more room for flexibility and manoeuvrability when it comes to transfers.

It will help Celtic under Rodgers continue to be what Postecoglou famously deemed 'agile in the market'.

READ MORE: Jackson reveals the Celtic player who was 'out of this world'

Rodgers is all over this, and he will have a rough idea who will be automatic starters for Celtic and those who will not make the grade. He is plotting and planning already. He has been since he accepted the job.

Rodgers - like Shankly nearly five decades ago - has scrutinised, scanned and assessed every Celtic player.

It's a safe bet that Rodgers probably already knows everything there is to know about them right now. The difficult conversations have started. Humane in nature. Brutal in their message.

Paradise may well cease to exist for Soro, Shaw, Ajeti, Urhoghide, and McCarthy... and a list to be continued.

The manager defines it as a 'natural process'. It is also necessary if the new Celtic under Rodgers are to continue their version of the natural order in Scottish football.

However, it is also paramount if the new Celtic under Rodgers is determined to establish a new order that extends well beyond the boundaries of their own domestic game.