What Celtic have "in buckets" before facing Rangers as skipper lifts lid on "trust each other more" relationship with manager

The Celtic skipper certainly deserves some kind of gong to recognise his commitment to media relations having become such a willing and articulate communicator on behalf of the Parkhead club. Barely 48 hours after he’d been sitting at a table at Tannadice Park trying to put into words what it meant to win another Premiership title, the 31-year-old was sitting at another table in a hotel in Glasgow reflecting on being included among four nominees, with teammates Nicolas Kuhn and Daizen Maeda also recognised. Dundee’s Simon Murray completed the quartet.

There’s little McGregor won’t talk about. One of the few subjects that he struggles to expand upon is himself, which is tricky when the reason he has been dragged in on a day off is to speak about his nomination for a personal award. True to form, he tries his best.

It says everything that he was even in attendance after a weekend of celebrations following Celtic’s latest success, their fourth Premiership title in a row. McGregor confirmed he had his “sensible” head on as the party raged on, after the team’s return to Parkhead on Saturday night. “I only did the one night, so we're good. No drama,” he added.

No one expected any Adam Idah-style taxi clips emerging involving McGregor, whose latest nomination – he won in 2021-22 – underlines how central he remains to Celtic and how having fewer commitments is helping him thrive in his early 30s.

The midfielder announced his international retirement earlier this season and while there’s no reason to presume it was at manager Brendan Rodgers’ behest, the pair are very close. Rodgers made a point of having lunch with McGregor in Majorca two summers ago as he weighed up returning to Celtic for a second spell.

The Northern Irishman did something similar with Scott Brown soon after he agreed to join Celtic the first time, flying the then Celtic skipper down to this London house. Rodgers explained that he wanted to set out his playing style as well as values. They got on well and went on to claim two trebles together. Rodgers and McGregor are a win in the Scottish Cup final against Aberdeen away from securing another one. How has their relationship changed since Rodgers’ return?

“We trust each other more,” he said. “Even the first time we were in, we had a lot of trust in each other. But I think it's different when you have that kind of captain-manager relationship. I depend on him and he depends on me a lot as well. So, I think it's a different feeling when you win something for your manager.

"I mean, I had it with Ange (Postecoglou) as well," he continued. “When we won our first trophy together, it gives you that bond: ‘I can trust you, you can trust me’. And that's why we're in the game. We're in the game to be successful. It gives you another level of that relationship where he's putting his professional pride on the line and I'm doing the same. We then have that bond and connection.”

McGregor wants that connection with Rodgers to remain for as long as possible but can’t provide any intel on what his long-term intentions might be. The manager has stressed he is “200 per cent” certain to be at Celtic under the end of his contract in the summer of 2026. Although their bond is a tight one, there are boundaries.

“I very much like to be in that category where I'm a player,” said McGregor. “I don't want to overstep the mark and ever make it a grey area for him.”

McGregor has heard it all before, but his ears must prick up at talk of new investment at Rangers and the prospect of revitalised rivals running Celtic closer next season. “We're only interested in ourselves, really,” he said. “And that's from what I believe a winning culture develops - professionalism and mentality. That's the two things that you need that are non-negotiable. We have that in buckets. That's why we've been successful because we know what Glasgow's like, you lose one game of football and it's a disaster. So very quickly, you have to find the momentum again. And the best way to do that is to win the next football match.”

Celtic’s next outing happens to be against Rangers. It’s rare in recent times that they should be going into such a meeting on the back of two successive defeats against their rivals, who they play at Ibrox on Sunday. They did overcome them in the Premier Sports Cup final in December, the first step in what Celtic hope is another treble.

“I know the narrative around the games has been Rangers have been the better team - better when you look at results, aye, probably,” he said. “But for us, the cup final one, we won the one that mattered in terms of there's a trophy on the line, let's get over the line. The one at Ibrox (January’s 3-0 defeat) can happen because it's football. We probably suffer a wee bit of bad luck in the last one (a 3-2 defeat at Celtic Park) as well.

"The only way for us to turn that narrative on the outside is to go there and win. If we do that, then everything I'm saying here is vindicated. So that's the pressure that we want to put on ourselves. We want to go there, we want to win.”

Such statements sum up McGregor. Despite having won all there is to win in the domestic game, he admits it still brings him tremendous satisfaction to be recognised by his fellow professionals. “I think the guys that you're playing against, they'll know the game better than anyone else that's watching it,’” he said. “It's always a proud moment to be in these types of conversations.”