CELTIC ON TOUR
Brendan’s Bhoy joins Hoops trip to Austria
From Back Page the Champions League qualifier against Linfield in Belfast on July 14.
Celts will face locals BW Linz – who play in the Austrian second tier – tomorrow before taking on Rapid Vienna on Saturday and Slavia Prague in the Czech Republic on Tuesday.
New recruit Jonny Hayes could make his Hoops bow and assistant boss Chris Davies admitted more arrivals will be on the way.
Boss Rodgers has revealed that he won’t be making wholesale changes to his Invincible treble winners and his No.2 underlined the point by insisting the Parkhead men are more interested in keeping hold of their top talents.
Several of the glory Bhoys have been targeted by clubs all over Europe with Moussa Dembele topping the wishlist of numerous big guns and others such as Kieran Tierney and Jozo Simunovic being watched by Premier League sides.
Davies wants to keep the squad together – as well as attracting some top-drawer additions.
He said: “Like the manager said it’s quality not quantity we’re looking for. The group did extremely well for us last year and achieved something really good.
“We want to try and keep them together and see if we can add but there’s nothing new I can tell you today from what the manager said.
“It’s about bringing quality to the squad. We have players for every position so it’s not any one area that stands out or an alarming position that you need to fill but of course you’re looking for quality players to add.
“It’s about recruitment and retention.
“It’s about knowing the players that you want to keep and, of course, we had a really good season last year.
“It’s logical to think we want to retain those players that did so well for the club. That is an ongoing process as well.” CALLUM McGREGOR thought his feet had done the talking but was gutted to be left twiddling his thumbs while his Parkhead pals were starring with Scotland.
The Celtic ace felt he had done enough to earn a call-up for the England clash but instead of being on the pitch he was messaging his mates when Leigh Griffiths slammed in his sensational freekick double at Hampden earlier this month.
McGregor’s snub was a sore one after the midfielder’s impressive end to the campaign. McGregor slotted stunners in back-to-back Old Firm games as boss Brendan Rodgers handed him a key role for the run-in – including a starting place in the Scottish Cup-winning side. The 24-year-old was tipped for an international shout along with several of his Hoops team-mates but the phone didn’t ring and McGregor had to settle for a ringside view. He insisted getting blanked by Gordon Strachan has only made him more determined to do the business for Celtic again this season and make sure the Scotland boss gets the message. McGregor – who last night landed in Linz in the Austrian countryside as Celtic step up their pre-season preparations – said: “I was just in Glasgow watching the game, taking it in with the fans. “When Leigh scores those two goals it’s just incredible – you know he has got it in him. You are not surprised. “The Celtic boys were part of a WhatsApp group chat and when he put the second one down were saying, ‘This is going in as well’. “We were all texting during the game and when it goes in it’s all, ‘Goal, goal!’ “Even Scott Sinclair was saying, ‘This is going in’. He took a few pelters – then silenced us right at the end.” McGregor felt the England equaliser at the death as much as anyone in the Tartan Army but it was missing out that hurt the most. The playmaker was one of the stars of the season for Celtic but it wasn’t quite enough to force his way back in. McGregor said: “I think when the squad was being announced I was confident I might be in it. “I was playing well and scoring goals and playing in big games. “Naturally you get that confidence and think, ‘Right, it might be time, I might be ready’. “Naturally you are a wee bit disappointed when it doesn’t happen but that’s not going