Callum McGregor reckons discontent within Celtic support is unprecedented

The Celtic skipper addressed fan criticism towards the board, working with the two new players who came in on deadline day and the challenge Kilmarnock will bring on their own patch in tomorrow’s match which has a 3pm kick-off and is live on Sky Sports and also on Celtic TV for subscribers based outside of Britain and Ireland.

You can read Callum’s comments from yesterday’s media conference below…

Q: Callum, how would you sum up the feeling amongst the playing squad after the break?

Callum McGregor: “Yeah, good actually. Training has been really good. Certainly in the last week, this week, obviously we’ve got the boys back together. There wasn’t too many away on international, so that actually gives a good chance to sort of start working with the new guys, the group that are here. The boys have come in in the summer, just trying to drip feed the messages in about how we want to play and how we work and all these things. So that actually gives us a nice break to just sort of hammer home some of the principles and the way that we want to work.”

Q: How important is integration of the new players because you don’t need me to tell you there’s been so much focus on players coming in. Maybe easy to forget that players actually did come in, how important is it you all provide an environment that they can hit the ground running?

Callum McGregor: “Yeah, well that’s it. I think, you know, internally, us inside the building, inside the dressing room, you know, we have to galvanise a team spirit and bring the boys in, make them feel welcome because the minute they feel welcome and settled, they’ll give us the best version of themselves and I’m always a big believer in that. You know, I talk about it every single season since the boys have come in. It’s important that they quickly settle in. They feel like part of the team and then they’ll give the best version of themselves, which ultimately helps the team on the pitch.”

Q: We obviously spoke numerous times during the window, and you said as well, you felt the squad needed strengthening. Is it strong enough? Did it come out the window strong enough for you?

Callum McGregor: “Yeah, I think so. I think, having seen what I’ve seen this week in training, certainly in the last week, there’s a real hunger, there’s a real desire for the guys that have come in and actually really good level as well. We’ve added sort of pace and penetration at the top end. We’ve added a top striker, albeit not played so much, but the early signs are good. He looks good, he looks hungry to be part of what we’re doing here. So I’ve actually been really encouraged with what I’ve seen in the last sort of seven, eight training sessions over the break. I believe that if we start well on Sunday and we start to gather some momentum, I think the team will start to really come together.”

Q: Does the starting well on Sunday become impacted by a planned protest for fans to come in a bit later on? Is that something you’ve discussed? How do you and the players manage that, because you’re the ones that will be running out there?

Callum McGregor: “Yeah, yeah, we haven’t really spoken about it. You know, internally as a group, I think obviously some of the boys will be aware of it. Maybe the foreign lads not so much, but I think again the only thing that we can control is, you know, when we cross the white line and we go into the pitch then it’s our intensity, our tempo that will impact the game. And obviously we would love the supporters to be in from the beginning.

“I understand the frustration and the plans (protest from the supporters at Rugby Park tomorrow) etc., which is fine. Everybody’s got their opinion of it, they’ve got their own voice and that’s absolutely fine by me. The only thing that I can control therefore, is the players on the pitch and the team and how we arrive in that game, hopefully in the best way possible. And then what we can do is try and give the supporters some energy as well by the performances by starting well on Sunday and then hopefully carrying that through and hopefully the whole thing just starts to speed up and comes to life a little bit.”

Q: Does that involve speaking to your teammates beforehand, do you think, just to almost make them aware then, if they’re not, of what’s happening?

Callum McGregor:  “Yeah, I’ll probably mention it tomorrow. But I don’t want to make it a bigger thing than than potentially what it already is, you know, it’s like I say, the boys are on their phones constantly. Now they probably will have seen it by this point. But again, we can’t be affected by that as in the performance because then it starts to snowball. It’s now important that we draw a line under what happened, the team now get back to functioning and attacking in the way that we want to do. We’ve now got the bodies in that will hopefully help us. The squad’s looking strong, everybody’s looking hungry. So now it’s about performance and winning games. And if we do that, then I’ve got no doubt the whole thing will come to life again.”

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