Callum McGregor

Agreed. It's also good that he'll be up against superior players in the Kazakhstan and San Marino teams then drops down several levels to give the likes of Ryan Jack a footballing lesson.

 

* was that?

 

He's slagging himself off. Check out the little clip the Celtic Facebook page plays whenever he scores.

 

SCOTLAND captain Callum McGregor last night played down the bust-up he appeared to have with coach James McFadden in the immediate aftermath of the dire Euro 2020 qualifying defeat to Kazakhstan.

McGregor was seen exchanging words with McFadden on the touchline as the national team walked across to applaud the fans who had travelled across to Nursultan to support them.

He was visibly annoyed that Scott McTominay, the Manchester United midfielder who had come on in the second-half in the Astana Arena and played alongside him, had raced straight up the tunnel at the final whistle.


Alex McLeish revealed afterwards that McTominay had made himself available to play in the opening Group I fixture despite having an upset stomach and was keen to get back to the changing room quickly.

McGregor made light of the incident with McFadden following a performance which he described as embarrassing and explained that he was keen for every member of the squad to show their gratitude to the Tartan Army.

“It was just frustration, it was nothing personal,” he said. “I didn’t even shout to James. One of the boys (McTominay) had gone in early and I wanted us all to go over and clap the fans.

“I just that as captain I felt we should go to the fans who had spent a lot of money to come here and support the nation. I thought we should get everyone together to say thank you for coming. It was nothing to do with James, I was just trying to get everyone together to go to the fans.

“I just saw him (McTominay) run in and I was trying to get everyone together. It’s important we show everyone we’re still together as a nation and that we’re going to try and put this right.

McGregor, who had been made skipper by manager Alex McLeish in the absence of both Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney, admitted the Scotland display had been unacceptable.

“It’s really poor,” he said. “We didn’t start the game well enough. When you come here you’ve got to give yourself half a chance by getting through the first 10 to 15 minutes, but we conceded twice and that killed us. We never really recovered from that at all.


There is not much else to say, it’s just so disappointing. We were trying to come here on a high and start the campaign on a positive. When you get hit with a result like that, it’s so disappointing. Everyone in there is devastated. We can only hold our hands up and try to put it right in the next couple of games.”

McGregor added: “It shows you how quickly things can change in football. On Wednesday I was buzzing, getting the chance to captain my country with everybody sending text messages through. To go to such a low with the performance and result, it just shows you how cruel football can be sometimes.

“You just try to steady the game and try to get us back into it. There is not much else you can do, other than try to rally the boys and get them forward up the pitch and try to create a couple of chances.

“We actually created a couple, and if we had taken maybe one we would get back into the game quickly. That didn’t happen, and we’ve got a mountain to climb when the third one goes in.

“It’s a horrendous place for us to come, we (Celtic) have never won a game here. Going into the game I was mindful of that as well, I know how difficult the atmosphere can be.

“That’s why I was trying to place the onus on trying to get through the first 15 minutes to give ourselves a chance. The boy (Yuriy Pertsukh) hit a worldy finish (for the first goal), and we switch off for the second one. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb straight away.


McGregor, though, insisted the national team, who now play San Marino in Serravalle on Sunday, can still finish in the top two in Group I and secured one of the two automatic qualification spots available for the Euro 2020 finals.

“We’ve got to be positive, dust ourselves down to get a good result to get the campaign back on track right away,” he said. “Obviously, we’ll be really disappointed tonight, but we travel in the morning and we’ve got to pick ourselves up and get a positive result.

“Yes, it’s embarrassing in terms of performance and result. For the ones who have been here before it is a difficult place to come, but everyone will be looking at this as a game on paper we should have won and it should have been comfortable.

“However, there are never any givens in football and having played so many games now I realise that, You’ve got to be at it and be on the front foot and start the game aggressively to make it an easier night for yourselves. But when you don’t do that anyone can cause you problem and credit to Kazakhstan because they did exactly that.”

The abject display and poor result has increased the scrutiny of McLeish despite Scotland winning their Nations League group and securing a Euro 2020 play-off place in November, but McGregor feels the players must take a huge share of the responsibility as well.


It’s a collective,” he said. “The players didn’t do ourselves justice at all and we’ve got to take that on the chin. We’re a tight group and although we’re not disregarding the disappointment we’ve got to dust ourselves down and go again on Sunday to show everyone we have half a chance in this qualification group.”

 

How right that statement turned out to be

 

His pass to Eddy for the second goal was * excellent btw

 

Callum McGregor helped launch
@CFCFestival
today and addressed the media at the SEC Armadillo.

It’s an exciting event! To get the fans and the players together and doing it in the city will be brilliant


CM: "This is another event that shows that #CelticFC is very much a club for everyone. They keep demonstrating that and the fans in return are coming to these events making it a special time."

CM on #CELRAN: "When you get a big win in the derby, everyone’s buzzing and can’t wait for the next game. We’re already talking about it so the spirits are really high."

CM on #STMCEL: "This will probably be more like the Dundee game, where they’ll be sitting in and fighting for every loose ball, every second ball - so it’s about us turning up with the right attitude and trying to get those 3 points."

CM: "I think it’s important that the players come in everyday and keep the same mindset, keep working and preparing for the games properly. Then when they come, you have to turn up on the night and earn the right to win the game."

 

Callum McGregor has accused Rangers of lacking humility after their Old Firm defeat and says Celtic captain Scott Brown was assaulted twice in the win.


The midfielder insisted his team were fully entitled to celebrate their success on Sunday just the same as the Ibrox team who gave it big licks after their triumph in December.


But while Parkhead players took their medicine and trudged up the tunnel following their setback in Govan, angry scenes erupted as the Hoops won this time.

McGregor believes his team did nothing differently in success as their rivals did 
three months previously, yet the response was nowhere near the same.


He said: “As a football player, and especially playing in a Celtic against Rangers game, you are entitled to celebrate and I don’t think anything was over the top. The game actually finished over in that corner. Nobody ran anywhere else in the stadium.

“They celebrated where they were on the pitch and, in my eyes, there was nothing wrong with anything that any of the Celtic players did.

“If you look back at the December game, Rangers deserved to win it and they celebrated on the pitch just as much as we did on Sunday.

But I think the difference is we took it. We just put our heads down, took our medicine and we got up the tunnel.

“So in terms of that, the conduct of the Rangers players maybe was not great. That’s up to Rangers the way they want to conduct themselves. We always try to do it with humility.”

Brown was accused of sparking the melee by facing away fans for a moment as he celebrated at full-time, having also been elbowed by Alfredo Morelos and decked by Ryan Kent during the game.

McGregor was stunned at the treatment of his skipper and said: “He has basically been assaulted twice for a wee bit of mind games.

It’s always part of the game in these big games. Players will try to wind each other up.

“I don’t think Broonie did anything that bad to provoke anything. It happens in football, it’s a charged atmosphere.”

 

Well said wee man..

From a Hun family as well

 

Can watch that pass and edouards touch of it on loop man. Such quality.

 

The * irony he hit it from left back though. Pre snake Brendan was probably smiling down from heaven.

 

really dunno where we'd be without him this season, he's been outstanding.
easily player of the year