Former Celtic captain Scott Brown has had enough to deal with at Fleetwood Town as he gets his managerial career off to a decent start. That’s not stopped him keeping a close watch on how his old club is getting on and in particular how his friend and successor as Celtic captain Callum McGregor is getting on leading the dressing room and being the leader on the park.
An injury in the Champions League match in Leipzig in October sidelined the current Celtic captain for a few months with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Joe Hart stepping up to ensure that the well oiled Celtic machine under Ange Postecoglou continued to run smoothly and domestically that meant winning every single game when the skipper was sidelined.
And Ange Postecoglou has on a few occasions singled out two other players who really stepped up as Calmac worked in rehab. Matt O’Riley and Reo Hatate both played in just about all the matches and took the added responsibility brilliantly for two young players who only arrived at the club in January. The Celtic manager reckons that these past few months will make both O’Riley and Hatate better players as a result.
Yet while things have gone well when Callum McGregor was sidelined, with the Celtic captain coming back with the league table showing a nine points advantage over nearest challengers theRangers. And Scott Brown is in no doubt that the return of McGregor, who is likely to play a part in the behind closed doors match on Saturday morning against French side Stade Rennais, will be a massive boost for Celtic as they look to win the league and of course both cups, with a League Cup semi-final against Morton on the horizon for Janaury alongside a Scottish Cup tie against Morton at Celtic Park.
“Trust me, you can’t underestimate the influence Callum has inside that dressing room in terms of setting standards for the rest of the group,” Scott Brown said in an interview with Daily Record.
“He certainly won’t allow complacency to set in and that’s one reason why Ange will be delighted to have him back at this critical stage in the season. You need to make sure you maintain those standards and focus on the next game. It can be a mistake to look too far ahead of yourselves.
“They’ve got two cups there to be won and they’ll want to make sure they challenge for them. Most importantly, they’ll want to win the league and they’re obviously in a great position to do that at this point.
“But they have to push on in the second half of the campaign and having a guy like Callum back in there to drive things from the inside will be a massive help in achieving all of that.”
Looking at Celtic’s chances for the rest of the season, Scott Brown is confident that his old club is in a good place and can deliver the silverware that the support craves.
“They’re in great shape for the second half of the season. They’ve had a winter break and they’ll enjoy a training camp in some warm weather I’d imagine. From there I’m quite sure they’ll be ready to kick on again. You can see that they are a good team with a good understanding of each other. They’ve got great energy but that should be a given, especially at Celtic.
“But for them to be scoring the amount of goals they’re scoring and playing such entertaining football shows what they are all about. Having Callum back out there on the pitch will only make them stronger and keep those standards high.”
