In the last week, there have been two Celtic moments on social media that have gone viral.

The first was Luke McCowan's exclamation of 'Jesus' as he came down the tunnel and drank in the awesome sight of Parkhead in all its splendour and glory as he was unveiled on transfer deadline day when the lifelong supporter officially became a Celtic player. The second came when Celtic's record transfer at £11 million Arne Engels was walking around the stadium taking the acclaim of the green and white hordes after the one-sided 3-0 triumph over Rangers and he screamed the word 'Amazing!' down the camera lens.

It was rather apt that both men should feature in the vital clips because of the four new signings the club made in the last days of the transfer window it was the midfield duo that Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers chose to hand debuts to in the derby clash. Belgian international Engels was thrown into the fray after 62 minutes as he replaced the superb Paulo Bernardo. McCowan had to wait a further quarter of an hour before taking his bow.

It was a fantastic piece of man-management by Rodgers. In that instant, Celtic's elite-level manager was making his own statement as his team were dishing out a statement win to their city rivals. This is an elite-level operator at work. He is a top coach who will build something special at Celtic if those at the top continue to match his ambitions. Celtic are playing electrifying football. The manager even said so himself. Now if Rodgers continued to get the buy-in from the Celtic hierarchy moving forward you get the feeling that the standards and bar would be raised to incredible levels.

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Quite simply he is an outstanding manager. This is another hill on which I am prepared to die. Yours truly has professed this view of Rodgers for long and weary. If anybody was in any doubt as to who is in complete control of this football club. Look no further than the latest Glasgow Derby win which heralded another 'Beautiful Sunday' for Celtic.

Rodgers's Glasgow Derby record speaks for itself: P19 W15 D3 L1. Total domination thus far over his two spells. That's why the shrewd Irishman gave Engels and McCowan a taste of it yesterday because he wanted both to acclimatise to their surroundings right away. The message to both players was to go out and enjoy themselves as this is what playing for Celtic is all about. Engels and McCowan knew instantly what it is like to play for a community and a cause.

Interestingly enough three of Rodgers's substitutes in the derby when including Adam Idah totalled £20.5 million. It was a signal of intent that Celtic had flexed their financial muscle in the transfer window and will continue to do so moving forward. It is the kind of outlay on personnel that Rangers can only dream about.

If Engels and McCowan want to know what lies in store then they should just ask Bernardo. Yes, they are all involved in a fight for one of three coveted spots in the Celtic midfield but the Portuguese star put in his best performance in a green and white shirt thus far. Rodgers has even improved Bernardo in such a short space of time since he became a permanent Celtic player that he showed that he can be relied upon and trusted to fill the midfield void vacated by Matt O'Riley.

Bernardo was simply outstanding against Rangers and Engels may well have a job on his hands dislodging him from the team at this rate! Now that's what I call strength in depth. That's the kind of quality that the manager craved from the Celtic board all along. Rodgers has an embarrassment of riches in the engine room in the middle of the park. No wonder Bernardo left his clothes in storage over the summer. His football heart never wanted to be anywhere else.

It is largely why Rodgers was positively brimming with enthusiasm in the aftermath of another impressive victory over Rangers especially as it was his teams' rampant performance on derby day that allowed him to blood the likes of Engels and McCowan.

(Image: Andrew Milligan)


The 51-year-old said: "It was great for Luke as he's a big Celtic supporter and he comes in and makes his first appearance in a Celtic vs Rangers game. That will give him great pride as he knows how we function and operate. He will get better.

"It was great for Arne Engels to come in, you just see his elegance on the pitch and for a young guy he’s got huge potential. That’s why we brought him in. It will be a collective for us this season and that was always the message. The most pleasing aspect is the performance. That is what we said to the players. I wanted them to concentrate on that because that's what we have always done. We always make it really difficult for every opponent that we play and we saw that today with and without the ball.

"We were busy from the first day of pre-season. We go back to 27th June and the players and the staff have put in a lot of work and we are now through the transfer window, to arrive at this point with how we have been playing and know there is much more development to come is pleasing."

It all sounds rather exciting for Rodgers and the Celtic supporters, doesn't it? The $64,000 question is can the present Rodgers style of play transition into Europe? We will find that out soon enough as Celtic entertain Slovan Bratislava next month on Matchday One of the Champions League league phase.

It is worth remembering that Celtic may be five points clear of the men from Govan but so too are Jimmy Thelin's Aberdeen, who have enjoyed a 100 per cent start to the campaign and sit joint top of the Scottish Premiership with Rodgers's side on 12 points. Although rather ominously for the rest of Scottish football Rodgers used the 'G' word. 'G' for growth. The Irishman feels there is plenty of scope for growth in this Celtic team. This particular Celtic unit is going to grow together at an alarming rate.
 

(Image: Andrew Milligan)

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He said: "It is good when you see growth. It is good when you compare it to this time last season as that was a wee bit flat. They are enjoying watching their team and the quality of the game and there is still such a long way to go but all you can do is make the first step positively and the players have clearly done that.

"There always has to be improvement. I think we can do that. Our pressing has been really good and I have seen that hunger and ability to double up around players and I am pleased with that. I think you see the level of our mentality and we are in a really good place. It is so early in the season and there is a lot more to come from us. I just think there’s development there. Having that possibility to do that is nice as a manager because we’ve all had moments when we don’t have that. That was the importance of pre-season and getting that depth into the squad. It’s a healthy squad.

"There’s lots of growth in all of the players."

If Engels, McCowan, Auston Trusty, and Alex Valle all flourish under Rodgers, then there are many reasons to believe that Celtic can finally grow domestically and in Europe. Engels and McCowan will be vital to Celtic's growth in the European arena in the future. A cameo appearance in a 3-0 canter against Rangers in front of 60,000 was merely the appetiser.

Trust me, Arne, if you thought Sunday was amazing, then you ain't seen nothing yet. sir. If McCowan's first impression of an empty Celtic Park was to utter the word 'Jesus' then he should also know that Rodgers once walked on water down G40 way before embarking on 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness at Leicester City. However, the prodigal son has returned to the 'family home'.

It's players like Engels and McCowan who can aid Rodgers as he attempts to perform some Champions League miracles by making Celtic a force to be reckoned with at the elite level of club football again. As Rodgers would say: "That's the plan."

A resurrection of Celtic in the Champions League league phase would be of biblical proportions.