Scott Brown has backed returning skipper Callum McGregor to drive Celtic towards a domestic clean sweep. Brown led the Parkhead club to a historic treble treble before handing over the armband to McGregor at the start of Ange Postecoglou’s reign.
Now, 18 months on, the defending champions sit nine points clear at the top of the table as they fine tune preparations for the second half of the campaign at a training camp in Portugal. And Brown’s believes McGregor’s comeback after two months in the treatment room could provide his old club with a timely shot in the arm as they close in another trophy haul.
In an exclusive interview with Record Sport the man who led Celtic to nine successive titles said: “Trust me, you can’t underestimate the influence Callum has inside that dressing room in terms of setting standards for the rest of the group.
“He certainly won’t allow complacency to set in and that’s one reason why Ange will be delighted to have him back at this critical stage in the season. You need to make sure you maintain those standards and focus on the next game. It can be a mistake to look too far ahead of yourselves. But they’ve got two cups there to be won and they’ll want to make sure they challenge for them. Most importantly, they’ll want to win the league and they’re obviously in a great position to do that at this point.
“But they have to push on in the second half of the campaign and having a guy like Callum back in there to drive things from the inside will be a massive help in achieving all of that.”
Celtic will face French big guns Rennes in a closed door game on Saturday before returning to their Lennoxtown base camp ahead of the big re-start at Aberdeen next weekend. And Fleetwood Town boss Brown added: “They’re in great shape for the second half of the season. They’ve had a winter break and they’ll enjoy a training camp in some warm weather I’d imagine.
“From there I’m quite sure they’ll be ready to kick on again. You can see that they are a good team with a good understanding of each other. They’ve got great energy but that should be a given, especially at Celtic.
“But for them to be scoring the amount of goals they’re scoring and playing such entertaining football shows what they are all about. Having Callum back out there on the pitch will only make them stronger and keep those standards high.”
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