WE never stop. Those three words became a slogan for Celtic last season after Ange Postecoglou used them in a training session at Lennoxtown that was filmed by the Parkhead club’s official television channel. But they have clearly been embraced by his players.
Callum McGregor will feel a sense of great personal pride when he takes to the field before the cinch Premiership game against Aberdeen in Glasgow tomorrow afternoon and helps to unfurl the league flag for the first time as captain.
Yet, when the formalities are out of the way he will immediately turn his attentions to helping the Scottish champions record a victory which gets the defence of their title off to a positive start.
McGregor, who is entering his 10th season as a senior professional, knows the demands at Celtic are relentless and appreciates that he and his team mates must once again deliver silverware in the coming months.
The 32 match unbeaten run which his side went on in the Premiership after losing to Livingston away in September and the success they enjoyed in the 2021/22 campaign are now ancient history for the midfielder.
“When you get these results and runs of undefeated games it’s a product of all your hard work,” he said. “Everything you do every day, the way you prepare, the way that you play. We don’t want to give up that unbeaten league record, of course we don’t.
“But we start fresh on Sunday. Last season is gone, you have to draw a line and move on. It was a good feeling to be successful, but everybody starts from zero this weekend and there are 38 games to go.
“It’s going to be a long hard season again with different challenges within that we have to overcome. We are under no illusion that this season will be completely different to last season.”
Not having any Champions League qualifiers to play in July – the Premiership champions go straight into the group stages of Europe’s premier club competition this year – has made for a different pre-season.
McGregor anticipates that Celtic, who lost to Midtjylland of Denmark and were beaten by Hearts at Tynecastle in the space of four days 12 months ago, will benefit from having longer to work with Postecoglou on the training field.
However, he dismisses suggestions that there is less pressure on Celtic to perform at their best from the get go.
“This is the first season for a while that the club haven’t have had any qualifiers to get through,” he said. “That makes a little bit of a difference obviously, but you adjust and work accordingly.
“What it does is give us a little bit more training time to work together as a group and more time for the manager to try to get his message across as well. There is some fine-tuning and little bits of detail. It gives us a platform to improve.
“The consistency in the group and the continuity is there after 12 months of everybody being here. We have obviously had a longer pre-season than normal without any competitive games and I just think that continuity in the group has allowed us to work with real intensity. Now we are just getting to the point where you just want the games to start.
“In terms of the Champions League everybody knows how important it is to the club. And when those qualifiers come they come pretty quickly.
“But I wouldn’t say there is any less pressure because we’re straight in this year. It just puts more onus on the first league game. The pressure is still there and everybody is looking forward to that.
“Footballers like that pressure and the anticipation of what’s coming next. And this year we just have a different focus to when the qualifiers come in July.”
A few new faces have joined the Celtic squad this summer and there has been an addition to the coaching staff as well – former Liverpool, Leeds United and Australia midfielder Harry Kewell has teamed up with his countryman Postecoglou.
McGregor has enjoyed working with the former Champions League winner and is confident that he and his fellow players will benefit from the input that Kewell makes to training sessions as well as on match days.
“He has been great,” he said. “He has settled in really well. He is a great guy and a good personality. He has huge experience in terms of the level he played at as a player.
“Everybody – the midfield and attacking boys in particular – is trying to learn from the little bits of experience and information he has to help us get better. That will be valuable throughout the season as well.
“I can remember him playing in the Champions League for Liverpool and he had a huge career. When you get the chance to meet guys who had a career like that and learn from them it has to help you.”
McGregor, who led Celtic to a Premier Sports Cup and Premiership double after replacing his close friend and mentor Scott Brown as skipper last term, will enjoy the raising of the league flag in front of a packed Parkhead tomorrow.
But he will not bask in the moment for long. He anticipates a tough start against a new-look Aberdeen team. He is determined to avoid another defeat in the opening game and to build on the progress that has been made to date.
“First and foremost, it’s a huge honour for me personally,” he said. “And of course it will be the same for my family as well.
“The club have asked me to do it and I don’t ever take that for granted on any level at all. It’s a huge honour I’m really proud of and I’m really grateful to the club for asking me to do it.
“It will be a nice moment and a nice way to kick off the season. But as soon as that’s over then you get your full focus on the game itself and making sure we start off on a positive footing.”
