Everything Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers said to Sky Sports, ahead of Flag Day at Celtic Park versus Kilmarnock this weekend...

How has pre-season been so far?

The players, staff, everyone has been outstanding. We have just come back from a great tour of America and the players are shaping up very well.

You had good results against Manchester City and Chelsea. Can you read into that and use it to build some momentum early on?

Yes. You still have to perform. You are playing against really good players. In my experience of being at top clubs, none of them want to lose a pre-season game. For us, DC United we played really well and we took that into the Manchester City and Chelsea games. Of course, we know there are no trophies handed out in pre-season but it is always a nice little marker for you. It's also a chance to see young players and across the board, the players are looking really sharp and intense and they have worked really hard.

In terms of this pre-season, how do you keep things going? How do you make sure the standards you set last season are even better this season?

That is the objective of every pre-season you come into. There has been a continuation of the intensity from the last three months of the season and I think the clear understanding of how we want to play has set in with the players. It's actually nice to see and it is the constant process of development and improvement. The challenge at every big club is making every game a special game. That's always the challenge and here at Celtic, what I tend to try and do is give players that mentality.

It is Kilmarnock first up on Sunday and you clinched the league against them with an emphatic performance at Rugby Park back in May. They were tricky opposition last season. What do you expect from them this Sunday - albeit with them having a European game in midweek?

I say the same thing, Derek (McInnes) teams are always well-organised and competitive. We'll expect exactly the same. For us, it is always about ourselves dealing with how we want to work and how we want to play. It's a home game for us and we want to start the season well with a really good performance.

In terms of recruitment, you have brought Kasper Schmeichel in. He's a man you know very well. How good is it to have him with that experience in the building?

Just him coming in during the last 12 days or so has given the players a lift. We had Joe (Hart) here who was absolutely brilliant and the season I worked with him last season he was an amazing character and goalkeeper. It was really important for us to bring in someone like that. Having worked with Kasper for the period that I did, I knew his hunger and I knew how competitive he was and I also knew how good he is around his teammates. Coming into a massive club like this, I knew it was something he would really relish. He's settled in very well. He's an experienced and outstanding goalkeeper and someone who we are lucky to have.

How close is Paulo Bernardo to a return to Celtic?

Hopefully, it is a matter of hours as he is due back to have a medical and hopefully,  everything will go well with that. We still have work to do. With transfers, there are lots of moving parts and it is never as easy as seeing a player and just bringing him in but we would hope by the end of August that we would have the team set up the way we want it. It is so important as you cannot snooze in the game of football and we want to be developing and improving. We want to ensure that we have an improved squad for the season in order to take on all the challenges we have. 

Has it been a slow window in general, do you feel? Or will the pace pick up come the end of August deadline?

I think it will. Speaking to other managers, it’s been that. Especially with a lot of the top English teams being away and having the euros and everything else, the squads are broken. It’s not until they come back and are all together that the managers can see what they have, and then there’s a knock-on effect to that. I think you always want to get your work done as soon as you can - we’d of loved to have everything done for the first game of the season - but that doesn’t necessarily always end up being the case. My hope is we can be much stronger coming out of the August window than what we finished last season.

How hard are you trying to get Adam Idah back?

Well, Adam’s a Norwich player. He did fantastic with us last season and we’ll just see what happens over the coming weeks.

How do you deal with the Matt O’Riley situation when there’s been bids for him - that he keeps that focus as a Celtic player?

It’s actually been straightforward with Matt because he’s such a great professional. I think what is always the challenge for teams coming to a team like Celtic is that they can place a value on the league and not the player. I’ve already told the club that. We all understand the model here - players will come in and develop. It’s not a club that you have to move on from, but there are riches in other leagues much richer than ours that allow players to go and improve the conditions of their lives. We all understand that, but it’s really important that if a player does leave here we are paid for the value of the players, and that’s sometimes something that can not happen. Sometimes a value will come in that’s a lot less. I’ve worked in the premier league, I understand the levels there and the players’ value. No player will leave unless it’s for the right valuation. At this point in time, there’s been no team that’s been anywhere near it.

How competitive do you think the Scottish Premiership will be this season? How much are you looking forward to this?

Very much so! I’m looking forward to it even more so now that I’m a year in. Look back to last season, it was a quiet one for us in many ways with getting to know the squad and the players. We formed that relationship and that togetherness as the season went on and we finished it so well. That has continued through pre-season, so I’m really excited. We’ve got some big challenges this year, but the objectives are always the same, to win as many trophies as we can - that’s our aim - and see if we can get into the play-offs in Europe. It’s a really exciting season ahead.