'I think it’s desensitised everyone,' Callum McGregor

Callum McGregor reckons that it’s taken for granted how hard Celtic work to be top of the pile consistently every single year. The skipper and his teammates are on the cusp of another Scottish Premiership crown and could make it a domestic clean sweep this year again too, if they can see off Jimmy Thelin’s Aberdeen side in the Scottish Cup Final on 24 May.

Celtic’s Domestic Dominance 

With domestic dominance a given for the Hoops these days, due to not having really known anything else for well over a decade now, many can tut and grown whenever the least imposition happens and the team falls below their own very high standards. McGregor admitted that he’s pretty much come to accept that comes with the territory here in Scotland but that many don’t really appreciate what it takes to be that successful that often.

“I think it’s desensitised everyone to how actually difficult it is and it just sort of becomes expected, it becomes the norm. But the players have to then live with that because it’s the standards that they’ve set.

“It’s a kind of double-edged sword for us”

“The level of player, the level of team that we’ve managed to build here over the last 10 years or so has been a really successful team. So every year the expectation is there. It grows and grows and you have to stay with that as a player.

“It’s a kind of double-edged sword for us because we are the ones that have set that expectation but that’s where you want to be as a footballer. You want to be tested, you want to be playing on the limit all the time and expect to have success. So that’s what a big club like Celtic brings and, yeah it’s difficult, but I think the players enjoy it as well.”

‘We did make progress in Europe”

This season Callum and his teammates reached the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in over ten years at Celtic Park, in addition to that potential Treble. It’s a really high bar but it’s what the people here pride themselves on every year, is trying to win all the domestic trophies,” McGregor added.

“And then the big thing for everyone on the outside is that we did make progress in Europe. Obviously we got to the knockout stage and gave a really good account of ourselves against a top, top opponent (Bayern Munich).

“Everything about the club is in a good way, everybody feels good about it and, make no mistake, when we come back in the summer then it resets and the expectation is there again to try and be even better,” he continued.

“You feel like you’re on top of the mountain”

“When you’re way back at the start and you get the first one, you feel like you’re on top of the mountain. And you keep doing it, keep being successful, it never really fades in that sense. But obviously over the period of time I became more and more involved, played bigger roles as the seasons went on, so you feel more responsibility, you feel more expectation on you to be the guy that drives the team forward and tries to make us successful.

“So I guess the only thing that’s changed is your actual level of input in terms of trying to help the team be successful and then when you feel more responsibility I think ultimately it feels better as well when you actually do cross the finish line.”

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