Abracadabra Brendan

That was a regular feature of weekends back in the day when Derek Johnstone and myself, along with another Superscoreboard veteran Davie Provan, commited fashion atrocities like having curly perms and tank tops.

So it was interesting and insightful to find myself in the company of Celtic's Kieran Tierney at a charity fundraiser to which he had been invited and where I was acting as host.

The day had begun with speculative reports of a £17m fee having been placed on Kieran's much sought after head by Celtic.

And before the clock had struck midnight Brendan Rodgers had conceded on record that his teenage protege would be the object of attention from Europe's leading clubs during the summer.

You therefore suspected that young master Tierney's arrival at the dinner table would see him accompanied by several of those heavy duty security men whose job it is to provide a human shield between their precious cargo and his adoring public.

I once witnessed, at the same charity event, Henrik Larsson sit through his meal at a table encircled by bouncers ensuring that the celebrity guest was able to eat his food without risk of indigestion caused by autograph hunters and selfie seekers.

But the only thing Kieran brought with him on Saturday night was the jersey he had worn earlier in the day during the defeat of St. Johnstone.

This was duly placed among the night's auction items as a surprise package and eventually fetched a very healthy £700 for charitable purposes.

On his way to the table where a seat had been kept for him there was a respectful handshake with Bertie Auld, one of the Lisbon lions for whom the latter part of this month will be devoted to the fiftieth anniversary celebration of their European Cup final win over Inter Milan.

There then formed a sizeable queue of admirers, ranging in age from Kieran's contemporaries to those who could have gone to school with his granny, who wanted a memento of the occasion they met one of the players who is part of Celtic's future in Europe.

The attention he paid to one and all could have been described as polite and, in the case of the irrepressible Bertie, nicely deferential.

It's like Rodgers said at the weekend, "When I finish it won't be about titles for me. If I get them, great, that's brilliant.

"But being a good person, having peace, being satisfied by how I work, that's what's important for me."

It sounds as if Tierney has heard that speech before and taken the words to heart.He is living the dream he had when acting as a ballboy at Celtic Park and is now working hard to achieve success while not considering himself to be better than those who revel in what he's doing at the club.

And it now appears as if Kieran has plenty of pals for company on that particular journey.

This season has been spent discussing the transformation undergone by previously peripheral figures like Stuart Armstrong, Tom Rogic and Callum McGregor under Rodgers' managment.

Or else speculating on how much Tierney or Moussa Dembele might fetch in a transfer market where money is no object for the game's high rollers.

But Rodgers is starting to resemble a magician from the old days of music hall variety shows.

The manager conjurs up a vision of the magician who stands with an upturned top hat while tapping it with his cane and saying "For my next trick" while producing a string of surprises from inside.

Saturday saw Rodgers introduce two teenagers, Anthony Ralston and Mikey Johnston, to his first team.

Tierney made it three teenagers in the side from kick-off against St. Johnstone.

McGregor also made up a total of four academy players used at various stages of the game.

Calvin Miller had been given his first team debut earlier in the season and seventeen year old Jack Aitchison has been given game time as well.

That's six players from an academy once criticised for its failure to to produce players of first team potential on anything like a regular basis.

All of them Scottish, incidentally, which has to bode well for a national team set-up desperate for any signs of encouragement where the future is concerned.

Rodgers gives the impression that, where he to fall from a top storey window inside Lennoxtown, he would float effortlessly and serenely in an upward direction.

But those who give the appearance of being able to do no wrong are in that position because they know the right thing to do in the first place.

Hence Rodgers being named Manager of the Year at the PFA Scotland awards ceremony on Sunday night while Tierney, for the second year in a row, took the Young Player of the Year award.

Rodgers has four games left, three in the league and the Scottish Cup final, to see if he can negotiate an entire domestic season without losing a game.

Friday night's match at Aberdeen looks like a stern test of Celtic's ability to claim invincibility. It will surely make compelling viewing for those at Pittodrie and the others watching their television screens.

It will also be a contest between Rodgers and Derek McInnes, two managers who respect the quality of each others work.

But Derek may already have had cause to reflect on one thing concerning the future.

While Rodgers looks to be replete with youthful potential so far as his squad goes, Aberdeen's Young Player of the Year award went to Ryan Christie.

He only arrived at Pittodrie in January and is actually on loan from Celtic.

The present day is awesome when viewed by Celtic's opponents. The club's future under Rodgers looks to be assured at the same time if the conveyor belt of young hopefuls into the first team is any indication.

• Hugh Keevins