WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO LEAVE HERE?
After more stunning success, McGregor can’t help but ask...
MONEY does not so much talk in football these days as scream from each and every vantage point. With the fiscal gap between the haves and have-nots in the European game only widening, the green folding stuff has hypnotic qualities. And precious few are able to resist its dubious charms.
This is the abiding concern of Celtic supporters as the last remnants of ticker tape from their double Treble-winning bus parade are brushed up.
Success may indeed breed success but, in a wider context, it also represents a dripping roast to clubs whose financial wherewithal dwarfs those of the Scottish champions purely on account of geography.
If there’s always going to be something vaguely dispiriting at effectively being a stepping stone to the English Premier League, the handsome returns Celtic have made on Victor Wanyama, Virgil van Dijk and the like is a soothing balm to the wound.
But even in an age when relegated West Brom can make £100million just for turning up and going through the motions, any deal for a Celtic player to break for the Border is still predicated by an agreement being struck between both clubs
the individual. For all Callum McGregor isn’t naive enough to think there aren’t ways and means of ensuring a player’s initial reluctance to a change of scenery can be overcome, nor does the midfielder detect the forming of an orderly queue of disgruntled stars outside Brendan Rodgers’ door this summer demanding the stamping of their exit papers.
Asked if he envisages wholesale departures from Parkhead, the 24-year old replied: ‘I don’t think so. I think when you are here and you are winning things, you see the support and you know how massive the club is — that’s a big draw.
‘You are not leaving here to go somewhere else. You are winning things, you are successful, you are playing in the Champions League.
‘The magnitude of the club and the support you get, you don’t want to leave here.
‘Days like last Saturday at Hampden shows that this is the best place to be, so, for me, it’s simple.’
As far as their medium-term futures are concerned, Moussa Dembele and Stuart Armstrong generally keep their own counsel on the matter.
Throughout the rest of Rodgers’ squad, by word or by deed, there are clear demonstrations of long-term commitment.
Kieran Tierney has spoken repeatedly of his admiration for the great one-club men he hopes to emulate. Kristoffer Ajer and Tom Rogic have put pen to paper on new deals in recent weeks.
McGregor, too, has his future tied up for a further three years.
The Scotland international seems to speak for many when he talks of the ongoing stimulation to be found in his current environment.
‘It’s just the challenge of playing in big games,’ he added. ‘You see over the years the great goals and the great players and you see the scenes it creates amongst the supporters and the memories that it gives them.
‘You are sitting there thinking: “I want a bit of that. I want to be the guy who scores the goal that wins the game”.’
He’s known that feeling on no less than 12 occasions this season. Remarkably, those goals have been spread across each of the five competitions his side has entered. Bayern Munich, Zenit St Petersburg, Rangers and Scottish Cup finalists Motherwell have been among those who can vouch for his burgeoning reputation as a man for the big occasion.
‘The more and more you do it, it becomes a bit more natural,’ he explained. ‘You feel as though you can be the one who is going to make the difference.
‘I probably don’t get nervous before big games. It’s more that excitement for the game — the way you feel with butterflies in your tummy wanting to go out, give a good performance and help the team to win.’
His opening goal last Saturday, an utterly sublime half volley from the edge of the box to open the scoring, was one way to flush away any lingering anxiety.
A textbook finish, it rather epitomised the quality he is now bringing to Rodgers’ party on a regular basis.
‘I’m actually right-footed now,’ he laughed. ‘I’ve just switched my legs over. It’s just reactions.
‘It happened so quickly and when I hit it, I knew it was going in.’
If there remained a soul within Parkhead in any doubt about McGregor’s worth to Celtic’s cause, they have surely now been converted.
Such homespun talents can often be under-appreciated. Not McGregor. Not any longer, surely.
‘To be a part of a special day in the club’s history is hard to put into words and it’s difficult to sum up just how I am feeling,’ he said.
‘With the number of games that I played and the amount of starts that I made through the season, I felt as though I contributed more this time. There were goals in big games, as well.
‘Obviously, it was great last year and I hope I played a part last season, but probably becoming more of a main player is something that I wanted to do.
‘It was great to hear the manager give me credit and the way you want to repay him is by giving him trophies and playing well. It also creates good memories, as well.’
There is little doubt that Celtic will face renewed challenges to their superiority next season.
Rangers, frankly, can only improve. Hibernian and Aberdeen will have designs on emerging as the main contenders while Kilmarnock and Hearts will feel they can make up the ground.
But as long as Rodgers remains in place and the hard core of the group that have delivered unprecedented success do likewise, the chasing pack may need to roll a double six to get anywhere near them.
‘It’s probably a key factor for us — to try and keep everyone together,’ McGregor said. ‘I have said it before that we have a special group of guys at the club.
‘Everybody is together and everybody wants each other to do well.
‘Even the guys who are not playing are just as happy when you are doing well and you are happy when someone is in there and doing well.
‘That’s the way it has to be to get success. Everyone has to be together.
‘That’s been a massive part of why we’ve been so successful and we have to try to keep these guys and keep as much of the squad as we can together.’