GUTEN Tag from Austria, where I am traipsing merrily after Celtic on their pre-season trip, staying in the picture-postcard town of Linz on the banks of the Danube and travelling between the champions’ idyllic training base and their matches in surrounding towns. It’s a hard job, but somebody has got to do it.

It is a privilege to be paid to be here. Not only because I get to watch the football and observe Brendan Rodgers' meticulous preparations, but also because there is the chance to soak in a new culture. Although admittedly, that has extended to soaking in the local brew and a fine selection of Bratwurst thus far.

For the Celtic players though, this is anything but a holiday.

Their hotel, situated 56km away from the centre of Linz in the tranquil hills of the Bohemian Forest, is the perfect place to get down to work, essentially because there is little else to do. It would take a pretty determined player to sneak out after curfew for a few fly jars up there, with the nearest village and any prospect of mischief a good few miles away in the pitch-black of night.

While Scotland is melting in blistering heat, the conditions in Linz have been much more in line with a traditional summer back home, with frequent rain showers and temperatures hovering around the 20-degree mark. It is to get hotter over the weekend, and Rodgers will be relishing the arrival of the sunnier weather to allow his players the chance to acclimatise to such conditions before they travel to sweltering Armenia to take on Alashkert.

Believe it or not, we have actually been kept busy on the work front since arriving on Tuesday, with the first chance to meet up with the Celtic party and watch the players in action coming on Wednesday evening in the town of Steyr, some 40 minutes drive from Linz.

The Life Radio Arena (proving that Scotland doesn’t have a monopoly on daft corporate stadia names) was small but not without its charm, not least of all with its scoreboard that doubled up as a massive advert for a local strip club, complete with a huge image of a scantily-clad dancer. It’s hard to see a club in Scotland getting away with that in this enlightened age of community engagement back home, but it at least acted as some sort of distraction for the small band of Celtic supporters in the 2000-strong crowd from what was typical friendly fare on the field.

On a more positive note, the fan experience even at this level – Vorwarts Steyr play in the Austrian second division – was miles ahead of anything on offer in Scotland. There was essentially a giant beer garden at the back of the stand where supporters mingled in the sunshine before and long after the match, enjoying a hot-dog and a drink together. Food for thought for our authorities, as clubs would surely relish such an opportunity for the extra revenue.

From a footballing perspective, the re-emergence of Jonny Hayes and the fine debut showing from Lewis Morgan were the major positives for Celtic, and talking to the former St Mirren man after the game, you could sense a quiet confidence and steely determination in him to make his mark.

We also chatted to Marvin Compper, a German who had a better command of the English language than any of us, and he is another who is hoping to impress out here as he attempts to fight his way into the reckoning for the Champions League qualifiers.

Yesterday, we made the long and winding journey out to the Celtic base-camp to sit down with Rodgers, the results of which you can read elsewhere in these pages, and today we will travel to Velz to watch the second friendly of the tour against Bohemians of Prague.

Odsonne Edouard is set to get his first run-out for the club since joining permanently, so even if there isn’t another beer garden or ‘entertaining’ scoreboard, it should be a worthwhile outing.

Until then, as the locals say, Prost!