Mentally, I’m glad to get a break but I can’t wait for football to start up again
SAYS CALLUM McGREGOR
IT was absolutely the last thing he wanted. Yet, when viewed in the context of his breathless schedule over a number of years, it was probably the one thing he most needed.
Last season, the 69 games Callum McGregor played for club and country saw him eat up more competitive minutes than any other player in the world.
Barely refreshed after a nine-day break, he then launched headlong into another 56-match slog before the safety curtain came down in mid-March.
He wouldn’t be human if the first couple of weeks of lockdown did not, in some way, feel like a blessed relief.
‘The mental break is welcome, especially when you’ve been playing close to 70 games for the last three or four seasons,’ said McGregor.
‘Physically, you need to stay in good condition. That never stops. But the training in the gym isn’t the same as playing three high-pressure games every week.
‘European games, semi-finals, finals, massive league games... that’s a different type of challenge.
‘You are playing sport at elite level and at Celtic you always have to win. A draw is a bad result and a defeat is a disaster.
‘You need to program your brain to go again every three days — you have to play, win and play well. The one benefit from football being suspended at the moment is that you do get a longer break mentally.’
It’s now seven weeks since the cancellation of a trip to Ibrox signalled the start of a prolonged period of nothingness.
Sport has willingly fallen in line with the inactivity of wider life. In the midst of a pandemic, players and supporters alike have recognised that there is simply no alternative.
It has made the appetite for the eventual return ravenous.
‘I can only speak for myself but I am already desperate to get back,’ added McGregor. ‘It might reignite the spark in some players. We have had a mental break. We have missed football so much and you might get that extra five or ten per cent.
‘When you get to the stage when you have played 70 games for a number of seasons in a row, you go into a mental state. You know more games are coming in a few days and with 20 minutes to go, you maybe come off it slightly.
‘But I think you’ll see a lot of refreshed players when football returns — there will be guys running 15km a game.’
Sharpness will certainly be an issue. But with boundless time on their hands, you suspect core fitness won’t be.
‘We are all following the fitness programmes and the sports science guys have been really good,’ said McGregor.
‘They are mixing it up, there are little challenges between the players and that means it’s not monotonous.
‘We are keeping ourselves in good physical condition with no games. It does take a lot of the load off mentally.’
A stroke of good fortune saved him the prospect of joining the tens of thousands who are using their government-allotted daily exercise slot to pound the pavements.
‘It can be quite difficult to find areas outside to train but I now have a gym in my house,’ explained McGregor. ‘It was quite fortunate timing as it got put in just two days before football was called off.
‘I decided to do it to help with my recovery-based work, as that’s important when you are playing three games a week.
‘I got the flooring down and got some nice equipment that does all the stuff I do in the Lennoxtown gym.
‘I’ve got a rowing machine, a treadmill and a Keiser bike, so I had everything there.’
By his own admission, the 26-year-old’s life pre-lockdown might well have been mistaken for a dry run for the real thing.
Win, lose or draw, his means of unwinding was always more likely to be the opening of a box set than a bottle of bubbly. He cannot now miss a lifestyle he never coveted.
‘I am staying away from Netflix during the day,’ he smiled.
‘I watch some TV at night but I don’t want to spend all my time on the couch. Killing Eve was the last programme I watched. I did the first two seasons and it was decent.
‘The Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls documentary (The
Last Dance) is next on my list. I’ll stick that on soon.
‘I am keeping myself busy doing other things, when I am not in the gym.’
Part of that is a reflection of the past which he hopes can be an investment in his future.
‘I bought myself a laptop and I have started collecting all the information from the last four years of my career,’ he explained.
‘I am looking at training sessions and coaching ideas. I have the time right now, so I felt it would be good to do that.
‘I have taken in a lot of information in the last few years and I am hoping to put it all in a document. I am trying to keep my mind busy with different things.
‘Coaching probably is something I will look to get into one day as I like the tactical side of football.
‘I like thinking about players’ positions and how the team functions within certain systems.
‘I have had a lot of good information over the years and I want to try and take as much of that in as possible.’
Financially, Celtic are in a robust position but any business with hugely diminished revenue streams will soon encounter choppy waters.
The agreement of wage cuts and deferrals should keep the club in a safe harbour for the time being.
‘Everyone at the club was on the same page from the start of the crisis,’ explained McGregor.
‘The club is united and that is one of the reasons why we have been so successful in recent years. We were keen to make a commitment to help the club stabilise and come through this crisis.
‘We all wanted Celtic to come out of this in a good place and maintain that feelgood factor.’