Q: Callum, you’ve got a strong relationship with the fan base as the captain. Is it something you can understand, this protest? Can you understand where they’re coming from and what would be your message to these fans that they might be doing that before the game, what’s your message to them?
Callum McGregor: “Yeah, listen, obviously I can understand it. It’s the supporters that make the club, you know, what it is. It’s so special. It’s synonymous with the support that they back the team. They’re putting their hard-earned money into the club. So, of course, I understand it. They want to see the best possible team on the pitch that they can do.
“Everybody in elite sport, the players, the supporters, we all want to be at the highest level possible every single year, and that is the demand of this club. So I do understand it. I sympathise with them a little bit on it, and because it’s them who are spending the money and trying to support the team, etcetera. So my responsibility is to try and give them the best product on the pitch that we can possibly do. And for me, my focus is on that and trying to bring them happiness through the football of the team.”
theRangers v Celtic, 31 August 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)
Q: I don’t think there’s been a point where the Celtic fans have been as angry and as mobilised. We’re talking hundreds of fans groups with a vote of no confidence against the board. This is a difficult place the club finds itself in, isn’t it?
Callum McGregor: “Yeah, like you said, I think it’s unprecedented in sort of recent times. The sort of level of noise and discontent within the supporters and and again, the only thing I can echo is trying to bring that back by one, giving them a team that they can be proud of on the pitch, they can back on the pitch and ultimately, that are successful and win football matches. So I don’t want to be dragged into the politics of it too much.
“Hopefully, with my influence and the senior players, then we can give them a product on the pitch that they’re happy with and can get behind and then, as alway,s we keep pushing because we always want more. We always want to be in the highest level of competition. And obviously we’re not this year, but then straight away my objective will, along with the players, is can we get back there as soon as we possibly can? So that means having a good domestic campaign and hopefully in 11 months’ time we arrive into that qualifier in better shape and ready to hopefully make the next step again.”
Q: The anger obviously stems from the transfer window. Looking at it as a fan rather than a captain, scrambling for free agents at the end of the window. That’s not how this club should be operating. Can you understand that even as a fan, never mind the captain, the club is bigger than that, surely?
Callum McGregor: “Yeah, but again, my job is to try and put my professional head on and try not to be dragged into that side of it. You know, I’ve got no doubt that if we find a goal in the Champions League, it’s not anywhere near as noisy as what it is, and that comes back on the team as well. So we all have to take collective responsibility. If we can find a way to win that match, whether it be a goal in the last five minutes, you know, with a few chances, if we go through on penalties, then being at the highest level would probably silence a lot of that.
Michael Nicholson, Chief Executive of Celtic FC looks on from the stands prior to the Premiership match between Celtic FC and St Mirren FC at Celtic Park on May 17, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
“I understand there is the window, probably didn’t go the way that the club wanted. There were some targets that we didn’t get, etcetera. And sometimes that’s life. Sometimes that happens. The important thing is there’s an acknowledgement of it, and there’s an acknowledgement to try and do better the next time. And that’s all as a captain, as a supporter, that you can hope for is that people learn the lessons from mistakes, players, coaches, managers, the board, etcetera. We all have to learn and get better. So again, from my point of view, we have to make the team as successful as we possibly can on the pitch, which will hopefully then start to bring the thing to life again.”
Callum McGregor of Celtic applauds travelling fans after the full time whistle Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock
Q: Was it easy to switch off during the international break? Because that’s when the problem was, there was that gap when the noise was loud?
Callum McGregor: “Yeah, yeah, but sometimes with these things, then it’s better to just get on the pitch and, you know, hopefully in Sunday we go and we put in a good performance and win the game. And then the whole thing just starts to roll the same way as it would have done, I think like you said, the the fact there wasn’t a game for for a couple of weeks, it sort of it gave a lot more talking time to everyone and sometimes that’s not a good thing, but like I said, our focus now is trying to bring it back to let’s draw a line under it. Let’s everyone get back on the same page. The players deliver what we are paid to do, as well, is deliver performances and win football matches and then hopefully we can start to go on a run and bring it back to life again.”
Watch Callum McGregor’s media conference from Lennoxtown yesterday afternoon ahead of Celtic’s trip to Rugby Park tomorrow afternoon to play Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership…
Conor Spence
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Actually Chris, you are wrong!
Many real fans are smart enough to know while the board has certainly been negligent in regards to the transfer window, they are also far and away the best board in the business when it comes to making sure we don’t go the route the old now extinct rangers went in 2011!
The idiot “mob” don’t seem to understand that part!
They actually think we have problems! Look across the city even today at the rangers tribute act! NOW THATS A PROBLEM!
We only have a couple of small issues to fix, in my opinion, the main one being the manager! He needs to go. He is the biggest problem we have. A disruptive leader.
He is a master manipulator. But for himself!
I can’t believe he has conned so many people this time around, especially when we all know he’s walking away in May!