THE Under-20 players at Lennoxtown were in the middle of their lunch when the Celtic manager gave them something else to chew over. Brendan Rodgers marched into the canteen area at the Parkhead side's training base and urged them to follow him up to the gymnasium to see for themselves the kind of dedication which is required to buck the trend and actually make it all the way from Scotland to become a top class footballer.

At the age of 35, with just one first team start since September, and a career of Barclays Premier League play behind him, you might have thought Kolo Toure might have been winding down by now. But here he was, staying back for extra stretching and exercises after training to painstakingly get himself in the best shape possible for his next first team appearance. The Ivorian must have been somewhat bemused by the sudden teenage audience he had for his work-out.

“I took the Under-20s and interrupted their lunch, which I apologised for," said Rodgers, who spent Christmas Day in Belfast visiting the Northern Ireland Hospice with his fiancee Charlotte Searle. "I said ‘sorry guys, listen, come with me a second’ and I took them into the gym. Who was in their doing his activation, doing his stretching, doing his work?

"Kolo Toure. He’s 35 years of age. He could have been down the drive and away home but, a few hours after he’d finished training, he was in the gym on his own, stretching.

"That’s what you need to do to be a top player," the Celtic manager added. "Body fat, body mass, looking after yourself, being a professional. It doesn’t start when you arrive at the training ground, it starts with your first waking moment. Then when you drive out, it doesn’t end. It’s a lifestyle. It’s right the way through. The guys that will play on until they’re 35 are the guys that have been looking after their body. If you have a brain to add to your brawn, then you’ll have a chance."

While a run of games for any young player is unlikely amid such a strong squad, Rodgers gave Calvin Miller his first "smell of the grass" at first team against Partick Thistle in midweek and give others their chances in the second part of the season too. The likes of Tony Ralston, Jamie McCart and Kristoffer Ajer could all come into contention, but the Northern Irishman isn't concerned only about the current occupants of his development squad. Of equal importance is planting a seed in the minds of nine- and ten-year-olds and their parents that their journeys through to Lennoxtown are worthwhile. Project Brave and the arrival of Malky Mackay as SFA performance director aims to place more focus than ever before on ensuring that a pathway is there right through to the big team.

"In the second part of the season that will happen," said Rodgers. "When you are playing young players it is the Under-8s who get the motivation also. The parent who is driving up here on the winter nights to see their son on the astroturf, they might be doing it three times a week or down in Barrowfield. They know their kids are going to get a chance - they are not coming here thinking it is going to be a wasted journey."

For the record Rodgers sees plenty of talented young players in his own academy, and in wider Scottish football. The only problem - and the reason for that behind the scenes glimpse at Toure - is that too often the Northern Irishman discerns an excuse culture there too. Diet and lifestyle is poor, while he tells a story about the agent of one 16-year-old kid banging on his door to demand a professional contract for a player who clearly wasn't in shape.

"I’ve had one player in here and I hope he sees the light because he's a big, big talent," said Rodgers. "The talent to play Champions League football. But the agent wanted to know when he was getting a professional contract and the kid was fat.

“We’ll see if the player is sensible enough to understand because he’s got a huge talent," the Northern Irishman added. "The point is, they want to play for Celtic but before you can play for Celtic, you have to be able to train with Celtic. If you’re never fit enough to train, how are you going to play?

"I haven’t been up here long enough; I don’t know the culture so well of junk food or whatever, but what I know is that if you want to operate at the level of Champions League, be a world class player or the very best player you can be, you have to develop technically, tactically, socially, and in terms of your lifestyle."

Scott Brown has had his moments but the Celtic captain too is reaping the benefits of a more holistic approach to his football. "Nutrition is a serious business in football at the highest level, and some of our senior players have seen that," said Rodgers, who feels it is never too early to preach the importance of a balanced diet for his player. "They have seen what it does to your performance. So you have to do it, and that’s a choice. The culture, if it is that, then fine, but you can never be a top country, or have top players."