From the outside, it looks nothing more than an unremarkable season for a League One club. In 2013-14 Notts County finished 20th in England’s third tier, avoiding relegation by three points. A record of 26 losses from 46 games is hardly auspicious.
Closer inspection reveals some significant detail. Callum McGregor, regarded by many as having no future at Celtic, was a successful loanee alongside a certain Jack Grealish, then a highly rated teenager on a temporary move from Aston Villa. McGregor describes their roles as dual No 10s in Shaun Derry’s team. The Scot outscored Grealish by seven league goals. “When you get sent on loan, 90% of people might think that’s you done,” McGregor says. “I was going there to showcase my talent and try to force myself into the team when I got back.”
McGregor’s career was indeed successfully rebooted. Since returning to Celtic, he has won everything there is to win in Scottish football, become a regular for his country and featured in the Champions League. Grealish was soon identified as one of the Premier League’s hottest properties. The pair will be reunited when England face Scotland at Wembley on Friday.
“We had a good season on pretty much the start of our football journeys,” McGregor says. “He has fulfilled all the potential he was showing at that age and is maturing into a really good leader and captain for Aston Villa. It’s brilliant to see.
“We linked up really well – Jack set up the majority of the goals I scored. He came in with a reputation even at that age. The more experienced lads in the squad already knew his name from the way people were speaking about him. You could see the quality he possessed as soon as he stepped on to the training pitch. The ball was stuck to his feet. He had real soft feet with the ball and was really gracious running with it. He soon added goals, assists and matured into the player we all see today.
“We don’t keep in touch any more but we did for the first few years. I’ll be looking forward to seeing him again. We have fond memories from that season. We shared a lot of good moments at Notts County.”
This seems curious given such lowly league finish. Yet the harsh realities of life away from major clubs seemed to appeal to McGregor and Grealish. “Football has a funny way of working sometimes,” McGregor says. “For two players to come away from that and things to work out the way they have … that’s why I’ll always be grateful to Notts County for giving me my opportunity of first-team football. I grew as a person and a player.
“I’m sure Jack speaks as fondly about Notts County as I always will. They gave us a real platform to enjoy our football and become better players. We played freely there with a really good bunch of senior players doing the dirty work. We struggled in terms of league position but to see that side of football, coming from Aston Villa and Celtic, and to see how much a relegation fight meant to every single person at the club was a real education.”
If McGregor, now 28, is jealous of Grealish’s profile he masks that well. There has been regular speculation about a Premier League move for McGregor but he has notched up more than 300 Celtic appearances without a bid being made. “With football, everybody chases something they don’t have,” he says. “I’m super lucky and proud to have had the career that I have had. Celtic are a massive club. I’ve had huge success and played in European football every year. The standard of the league might be better elsewhere but I’m at a massive club and always playing in Europe. My only interest is to keep pushing to get better as a player.”
McGregor was surprisingly among Steve Clarke’s substitutes for Monday’s 2-0 loss to the Czech Republic. He emerged from the bench to win a 32nd cap, and intrigue surrounds whether he will earn a start at Wembley. As part of a squad that has taken Scotland to a first tournament in 23 years, the midfielder had been used to watching finals from the sofa.
“We are a generation that has probably suffered from that: not seeing Scotland in major tournaments,” McGregor says. “The pressure to get to one was growing with every campaign. We really never knew any different as a group of players than entering qualifying campaigns with that burden on our backs. The whole buzz around getting here was unbelievable and gave us a real sense of pride.” This is also a long way from Meadow Lane.
