“Take Note Nicola,” Celtic in Dubai: “We come here, we train exceptionally hard,” Callum McGregor

As controversy rages back in lockdown Scotland, Celtic are getting on with the usual winter training camp routines in Dubai. And vice-Captain Callum McGregor is convinced that the squad will get their usual benefits from an albeit shortened trip to the United Arab Emirates this year.

The idea that Celtic are in Dubai for leisure, pleasure or R&R purposes – as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon suggested today – is bizarre and clearly incorrect. Celtic go to Dubai for winter training. Here’s what Callum McGregor told the official Celtic site.

“The camp lets us come away into the warm climate and have intense training, and that’s the main benefit of the fitness work – it’s something you can’t replicate at home in the cold weather.

Take note Nicola – doesn’t look like R & R to me. https://t.co/LDpeqn8FBm

— Iain Findlay (@iainf2016) January 5, 2021

“The added benefit of the heat improves your fitness when you’re working at that intensity, it gives you a different level of fitness when you go back, and it’s pretty much impossible to recreate that back in the colder climate.

“The objective of the camp is to work as hard as we possibly can and take that into the next stretch of the season. It’s slightly different circumstances this time, but the trip and its purpose is exactly the same: we come here, we train exceptionally hard, we hit the reset button and then we go again.

“The trip has been the same for the last few years, as have the benefits of that in terms of fitness work, keeping everyone at their sharpest and getting the boys who’ve maybe not played as much football up to speed.”

“We come here, we train exceptionally hard, we hit the reset button and then we go again.

👊 Hard work continues 👊
⁰#CelticFC 🍀🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/y2Jn4vtcRQ

— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) January 5, 2021

“The challenge at Celtic is to try and win every game. When you don’t, naturally, there’s a disappointment from everyone. It’s exactly the same for the players as well, and you have to deal with that disappointment in the right way. When you get the chance to put it right and rectify it, then that’s exactly what you have to do.

“It’s a big task, we’ve got three games in hand, and we have to win all three of those to close the gap and give us a chance. We’ve known that since we reached the cup final last year – we missed a game in the league from that, so we know that the points gap looks bigger than what it actually is.

"For me, the question for Celtic is what is the purpose of them being there?"

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says Celtic have questions to answer over their warm-weather training camp in Dubai.https://t.co/cPEvx1YBIe pic.twitter.com/nyYdA8VJby

— Anthony Joseph (@AnthonyRJoseph) January 5, 2021

“Naturally, when we start to play those games in hand, you start to eat up the gap. From there, we know that anything can happen in the sense that, once you get close, you start to see what teams are made of and how far you can push them. That’s the objective for us: to get within touching distance, to close the gap and see how close we can get it.

“And that’s the objective of the training camp: to bring everyone together, train super hard, and then when we come back everyone is refreshed and working towards the objective come the end of the season.”

💬 “We come here, we train exceptionally hard, we hit the reset button and then we go again.”

Callum McGregor says he and his teammates know exactly what’s expected of them for the second half of the season.#CelticFC 🍀🇦🇪https://t.co/wImEQOmfTc

— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) January 5, 2021