I have to come clean and say that when Brendan Rodgers was given the Celtic job this summer, I didn’t necessarily think that one man could transform what was a floundering group of players.

That judgement may seem a little harsh given that Celtic had just won their fifth successive title, but I honestly felt that there were a number of players not good enough to play for the club as well as players who had come to the end of their time at Celtic.

And yet, the sign of a good manager is the ability to make a team better and to make individual players better and I think Rodgers has made so many players at the club demonstrably better.

You have to take you hat off to him for that.

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There have been a few downs in the Champions League, disappointments, however, that have been offset by a few highs in the competition as well as through early domestic success.

There are a few notable players for me who look like completely different players this season but Stuart Armstrong and Scott Brown do stand out.

The change in Armstrong in what is essentially a very short space of time is remarkable. He has clearly absorbed the instruction he has been given and he is starting to show the potential we believed he was capable of in his Dundee United and early Celtic days.

And for me, getting the best out of players that you did not sign but rather inherited from someone else is the mark of a good coach.

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When the Northern Irishman first got the Celtic job he said all the right things about Brown, but I have to confess to wondering just how much of that was simple rhetoric.

Yet, he is a different player. He has been fabulous for the Parkhead side this season and he was easily one of the best players on the pitch on Sunday at Hampden when Celtic lifted the Betfred League Cup.

It just shows you how players are motivated by different managers, by different circumstances.

Rodgers knew the deal when he went into Celtic in June; he would take Ronny Deila’s squad and although there would be some money to invest in the squad there was never going to be open cheque book to go out and sign whoever he liked.

He has added some quality – we all know what Moussa Dembele has brought to Celtic for a very limited fee – while Scott Sinclair has also been very important. Kolo Toure has slipped off the radar a little since his own disappointing night against Borussia Monchengladbach at Celtic Park but in fairness to the defender he brought a lot of experience to help settle that backline.

In itself, that was so important in making sure that the club got into the Champions League group stages and got through those tough early qualifiers.

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There is no-one at the minute who looks capable of giving Celtic much examination on a domestic level.

And yet, while there are suggestions that this is a team who could go through the season unbeaten, I still tend to think that there will be a disappointment somewhere along the line.

There will be an odd game where it just doesn’t happen for Celtic. We saw it in Inverness earlier in the season when they went into that game on the back of the 7-0 defeat to Barcelona and then had a stumble.

I think you can safely assume that Rodgers will get his hands on the title this season but it will be interesting to see who, domestically, can lay a glove on the Parkhead side.