Callum McGregor set out what he reckons is success in a Celtic jersey looks like. The Celtic captain reviewed last season which looked close at one point as we approached the business end of the season.
Ultimately though we saw Celtic draw on all that experience of getting across the line each May successfully, to draw away from theRangers to win the title by a rather comfortable eight points and then go onto put the cherry on the cake at Hampden in the Scottish Cup Final.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s third and final match – this time against Chelsea – of Celtic’s tour in the United States, the Celtic captain was in a reflective mood as he returned to the dramatic events in the title run-in and surveyed the entire campaign, to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of what was a topsy turvy season that worked out rather nicely in the end, at club level anyway.
He also talked about the rather dreadful Scotland campaign at Euro2024 hoping to put that one to bed and allow the players to move on back at their clubs to put that shambles behind them.
“You look at the scenes at the end of last season. That’s what this club does to you – you celebrate every trophy like it’s the first. Success is so ingrained in the staff, the coaches, the players and the supporters.
“When things go a but wayward, you think this might get taken away from us – it just sharpens everyone up. The last six weeks of the season were a prime example of that. We have to bank that experience, of course. But it’s important to anyone coming in to understand it right away,” Callum McGregor said, as reported by Daily Record.
“We were talking about it the other day. We actually started the season really well. I don’t think we lost a game for about 10 or 11 games in the league.
“We had a spell in the middle when it wasn’t so great, we lost the two games in December and everyone started to hone in on that. But we ended up with 90-odd points and when you look back at the season as a whole, it was really successful.
“I probably just didn’t feel as good compared to the season before when we won’t the Treble. But I think it was maybe just a perception, and when you finish with two trophies out of three it’s successful. That’s done now, of course. We are looking forward to another season where teams will provide us with difficult challenges. It’s about us finding the solutions.”
The Celtic captain also referred to the rather awful Scotland campaign at Euro 2024 which saw Scotland exit the competition at the group stages bottom of the group behind Germany, Switzerland and Hungary.
“It was a really disappointing summer, I don’t think you can get away from that. The only way you can grow as a player, a person and as a group, it so to take responsibility. There’s no point hiding away. We had a tough group but the hope and expectation we put on ourselves, it was disappointing. We all have to draw a line in the sand with it and get back to our clubs,” the Celtic captain said.
“In terms of the Celtic guys, we had a successful end to the season and we have to pick up where we left here. Every season is a new challenge and the focus is 100 per cent on Celtic.
“Of course there was disappointment but in football you can’t allow yourself to be disappointed for too long because there’s always a new challenge. You have a responsibility, especially at a club like Celtic, to be full of energy. You can’t carry that disappointment for too long.”
The 4-3 victory over a relatively strong Manchester City side has certainly raised a few eyebrows in the game ahead of Celtic’s final match on the USA tour this weekend against Chelsea and the skipper was mightily impressed with the slickness of that Celtic performance.
“We are in a good place,” Calmac said. “You could see the fluidity of the football is good, along with the counter press and tactical ideas. It kind of feels like we’ve picked up where we left off, when you look at the slickness of the game the other night. It’s good because we’re really understanding the model of how we want to play.
“Teams will give us different problems but we know we have different answers now. It’s important to keep drilling that home. The players look good and are comfortable in the system. It’s now about getting the work in with another tough friendly against Chelsea before it starts for real the following Saturday,” the Celtic captain said.
