He believes a year away from football helped him to come back 'refreshed'

Rodgers has no regrets from his spell at Anfield and labelled it 'incredible'

The former Liverpool boss claims Celtic are bigger than 'three-quarters of Premier League teams' - but Scottish football lacks the platform to show it

There was a question about his relationship with the owner. Then he was asked how a positive result would impact on the season, who could be his match winner and what pressure he felt ahead of a defining afternoon.

The line of enquiry, Brendan Rodgers recognised, had striking similarities to his last derby as a manager but, this time, the tone was markedly different. If a trip to Everton marked the end of the road for his journey at Liverpool, a clash with Rangers has the potential to ignite his reign at Celtic.

It is four months since Rodgers stepped back into the world of management, having found it impossible to ignore Dermot Desmond's approaches, and it is clear to see the man who is standing in a corridor at Celtic's Lennoxtown base, laughing and joking, has rediscovered his confidence.

Brendan Rodgers is in charge of Celtic - the club he supported as a boy - and is clearly happy

The 43-year-old jokes with summer signing Christian Gamboa at Lennoxtown Training Centre

This is exactly how Rodgers was during Liverpool's exhilarating 2013-14 campaign, when he was named LMA Manager of the Year. He says the team he created, spearheaded by Luis Suarez, 'made the people happy for a period of time' and he is right.

The contrast to the person who slipped out of the club in October 2015, having been told in the car park at Liverpool's Melwood training ground that his services were no longer required, is total and it is something he recognises.

'The emotion of that game was we'd actually played quite well in the first half,' Rodgers recalls. 'It was a creditable point but I think the club had made the decision a couple of weeks earlier that I'd move on. But it's all experiences and I'd never swap the whole Liverpool experience for anything.

Luis Suarez flourished into one of the world's best forwards under the tutelage of Rodgers

WATCHING BRIEF Kick-off: Noon, Celtic Park. TV: LIVE on Sky Sports 2 from 11.30am. Referee: Willie Collum. Advertisement

'To go in there aged 39, into one of the great clubs in the world and to try to lift the club to a level, to try and win the league. We finished runners-up. We nearly did it. Of course, sometimes it doesn't end how you'd want. But it was incredible.

The pride to have managed Liverpool on my CV. It didn't end so well but there aren't too many coaches who leave when it has ended well, you know? It was a huge honour to manage the club. This is now a different experience but with similar expectations.'

Life, evidently, is good. He lives in Bearsden, an affluent suburb on the way to Loch Lomond. It is said that Glasgow is the biggest goldfish bowl of them all but Rodgers hasn't found it oppressive. Most critically, he has found any reason to be disappointed.

Rodgers recalls his time at Liverpool and claims it was 'incredible' to come so close to the title

He had offers to stay in England. Aston Villa and Newcastle sounded him out, Derby County did likewise. There were offers to go abroad and the Football Association had him in mind as a contender to replace Roy Hodgson but, by then, he had committed to Celtic.

Their approach, in the middle of May, came at the right time.

'I just needed to get away and be refreshed,' said Rodgers, giving his most candid interview since leaving Liverpool. 'One of the things that I learned was that when it is relentless, you can get caught up when time is running out to be creative. You have it in your own line of work.

The former Liverpool manager believes Celtic's approach was the right job at the right time

'You have deadlines, you have got to churn it all out and you don't have time to think. But if you come away, and you have time to sit down and think, you will always create something better. I had a manufactured chance to go away and think and be creative again and reinforce the ideas I had.

'I travelled all over the world. I came out of Liverpool on the Sunday and I went straight away on the Monday (to Spain) for two weeks. That first three months, I didn't think about football. Didn't think about it at all. I needed to recharge, to think about other things, put some time into my family.

'Then after Christmas I started mapping out the next stage. I had some offers – four or five– but then in January/February time I really had to narrow down the focus. The reality for me is that I'll be coaching for hopefully another 15/20 years.

Rodgers believes that Celtic are a club 'bigger than three-quarters of Premier League teams'

'That was never all going to be in the Premier League, so in order for me to be the best coach I can be, it was going to be about moving to different countries. Scotland might not be perceived as being as glamorous as some other countries, but this is a new experience and I've met some great people.'

And he has already given Celtic's fans what they wanted. Parkhead is full again – 57,758 turned up for his first SPL home game against Aberdeen – and they are back in the Champions League group stage after a three-year absence with fixtures against Manchester City, Borussia Monchengladbach and, first up on Tuesday, Barcelona.

Should they tee themselves up for that trip to the Nou Camp by beating Rangers this lunchtime, they will be firmly on course for the title and Rodgers recognises the importance of putting silverware on his CV.

Rodgers was an instant hit with the fans and has taken Celtic to the Champions League again

'What Scottish football doesn't have is a platform like the Premier League,' Rodgers explained. 'But Celtic is a club which is bigger than three-quarters of Premier League teams. The expectation is huge. There aren't many clubs where you have to cope with that pressure to win every single game.

'If I worked at Barcelona, I'd have won a trophy by now, no question about that. But in the English Premier League, where the British managers are being judged and measured, it's very, very tough.

'What you'll have this year in the Premier League are some really, really good managers, who have good CVs abroad, who won't win a trophy. If that's a British manager, they'd be deemed not so good. It'll be interesting to see.

Rodgers admits that he will return to the Premier League - but he is 'really happy' at Celtic now

'They've been happy that I've come here and thanking me for coming, which I don't think should be the case. I had a brilliant time in the Premier League, and one day I'll go back to the Premier League, but, for this period of my life, I'm really happy.'

It shows and, before he leaves, he stresses the point once more.