PETER Lawwell couldn't have tied down his prime asset more spectacularly if he had handcuffed him to the statue of Brother Walfrid. The Celtic chief executive said last night that Brendan Rodgers' new four-year contract sends out the message that any interested clubs shouldn't even waste their time trying to persuade him to leave. While a well-established and successful business model is in operation at the Celtic where players sign long-term contracts and are sold on mid way through those deals for multi-million pound sums, Lawwell said that it was a different story altogether when it comes to a managerial miracle worker like Rodgers. On a day of grand statements in the Kerrydale Suite, not least of them came when Lawwell said he was the finest manager that he had worked with.

“The message it sends out is that he is staying with Celtic," said Lawwell. "Don’t bother, don’t waste your time. The message is clear. We want him here for at least the length of his contract. We have plans. We have ambition. There is an expectation from the supporters and he is fundamental to it."

It was, Lawwell said with a smile, "purely co-incidence" that the deal expires on June 2021 by which time, at their current rate of success, the Northern Irishman could well have led Celtic to a historic ten top flight titles in a row. “When you get to six it gets closer and closer and our fans are looking at it and everyone is looking towards it but as Brendan said you’ve just got to do it season by season, do your work, keep improving and just keep winning," he said. "But at the moment it would be very difficult to find somebody better suited than him, for where we are at the moment as a club."

When Lawwell says that, with the greatest of respect, Rodgers is the best manager he has worked with, what he means is that he is closest to having the full package, a training ground coach and excellent tactician and motivator with a track record of developing players rather than just buying them in. For the record, the remainder of his management team, newly installed or inherited, will also be secured to a similar length of deal.

“I have been here for 14 years now and worked with five different managers," he added. "They are all great managers but I definitely think Brendan is world class. Technically, tactically he is exceptional. It has worked out really well. He has surpassed all our expectations but the most surprising thing is that’s he’s done it with the same squad. That shows you one of his main strengths is making players better. He has come in and taken them to another level.

"With the greatest respect to the managers that have been here because we have had great managers - Lenny [Neil Lennon] won three titles and Ronny [Deila] had two - Brendan would be nearer the full package, in terms of having the lot," he said. "Others have big strengths and some weaknesses but he’s as near to the full package [as you get]. That’s what we need, creating, developing, building teams as opposed to buying them. He’s demonstrated his excellence in doing that, on the back of the majority of players being here last season."

While it would perhaps be wrong to establish an expectation of a huge transfer outlay in this squad this summer, Celtic fans should hope for a further nurturing of existing talent in the first team squad in the academy, with perhaps a couple of key additions. While one name Rodgers threw into the mix yesterday was youth team player Mikey Johnston, the first item on the to-do list will be tying down a new contract for the emergent Stuart Armstrong, along with Scott Brown one of the few top team stars who is entering the final year of their deal next summer.

“In terms of the fundamentals of the club we’ll put everything back in that comes in, we’ll be flexible with debt but we’ll never put the club in jeopardy and Brendan gets that," said Lawwell. “If you believe in that, you can’t have money to buy the best, you have to create the best and that’s what he is a creator and developer and that’s what we need to rely on.

“Brendan’s now committed and hopefully others will follow. We’re talking to Stuart now. Scott has a year at the end of this year, as does Stuart. Others that are core to us are on two and three-years. Kris [Commons] and Efe [Ambrose] are out at the end of the season. Emilio has another year and we’ll keep him for another year. So we’re pretty well covered.

“Last year Moussa and his agents, unusually, were looking to the long-term rather than the short term and you need that cooperation," he added. "Moussa has proved the formula, Kieran’s another one that’s done really well, Stuart Armstrong, Tom Rogic, these are players who are getting better. The commitment Brendan has made allows them to believe in him, that he’s going to be around and stay a bit longer and develop.

It also helps that both the manager and young players like Kieran Tierney just happen to be Celtic fans. “Even for myself you have long days, dark nights, and it does give you that addition factor to be passionate about the club as supporters," he said.