Callum McGregor Celtic Q+A ahead of Viaplay Cup semi-final

The manager signed a player in your position, how do you view that? 

It’s fine. That’s football and he’s coming in to help the group. We want as many good players as we can to push the standard. Ultimately, it will make us a more successful football club and that’s what we want. In modern-day football, teams carry big squads and you’re going to need them with the amount of games. It’s all good. He’s come in, he speaks good English and we are happy to have him on board.

Is your role as captain to keep people happy and does progress in competitions help? 

It’s a bit of both. That competitive nature comes out in the players and if you’ve got the jersey and you’re playing well, then you’ll keep it. The players that come in are designed to test you as a group and that competitive edge is always good in football - it keeps you sharp and hungry. We’ve got to use the players we have to keep pushing and trying to improve. 

It’s that time of the season when players are thinking of futures, do you ever get involved if people are frustrated and pondering their future?

My job is obviously to listen to the players. If they come to me with a problem then I will try and fix it. That’s in any capacity of the game; football, at the club or in their personal lives. I’m there to help them and I let them know that. I won’t go and actively seek conversations because the players have their own careers and they work for the club. Ultimately they will make their own decision but I’m there to help if they need it.

Is it important to keep on winning trends and retain trophies?

Obviously when the cup competitions come around, you’ve got that desire to win. I don’t think that will ever change in me personally and you’re always hungry for the next one and that’s the ambition of the group. It will be a tough game, it was a tough game last weekend and they’ll make it difficult. We are desperate to win and show everyone how good a team we are. We’ve been preparing well. 

How different is Saturday to the league game last weekend?

Anything can happen in any game but especially cup games and they sometimes throw up something different and we’ve got to be prepared. We’re preparing for all eventualities and we have to be ready.

How special was last season's League Cup victory?

It was great, I think it was a big moment for the group. A big moment for me personally obviously as well but more importantly a big moment for the group. It solidified all the good work we had been doing since pre-season and once you get a trophy in the bag it kind of solidifies that and keeps everybody on the right track and knowing you are on your way to success. That first bit is important. But last season doesn't mean anything for us now, it's about this season. It's about the next game and we want to show that hunger that we want to be successful again.

What are your thoughts on comparisons with yourself and Scott Brown?

I have been in football long enough to know that it's a ruthless sport and people are just waiting for you to fail. You try and limit that as much as you possibly can. Of course I had to find my own way in the role. Following a very successful captain, you have to be successful. Not because of that, but because you are now the captain and now spearheading the club in that sense on the pitch. That becomes your responsibility so that's something I carry with me every day, I try to push the standards every day in training and try to make sure the group is hungry for success, and when it comes to the big moments then hopefully we can deliver more often than not.

How do you do that and how does that differ from your predecessors?

It probably won't differ too much, it's a club that is dipped in success throughout its history. It was successful before Scott got it and it was successful before I got it. Our job while we are in that role is to continue that success and continue the good work that has been done, continue the values of the club. We want to respect each other every day when we come to work and we want to get better and challenge each other to get better. I think that's where success starts, every day it's good habits, it's turning up to training on time, preparing well, training as hard as you possibly can, trying to improve as a player, and when you get the opportunity at the weekend, you want to show everybody what a good player you are and what a good side you are.

How important is it to win the cups in Scotland?

At big clubs you have to win, and especially in this country. If you are at a big club then you are under pressure to deliver success and every time a trophy comes around you have to win it and, if you don't, it's regarded as a failure. That's the pressure we live with playing at a big club, especially in this country. It's just part and parcel of the game up here.

Thoughts on Derek McInnes' praise for Celtic

It's obviously nice when people speak well about the group. Up to this point he is right, we have been very easy on the eye, we have scored a lot of goals, defensively we have been good, we won two out of the three trophies last season. So it's a nice comparison. I have played in some really good teams that have won a lot of trophies. The one thing that stays constant is the hunger in the group to be successful. You can have good players, score a lot of goals, but you have to have a real desire to win and deliver in the big moments. That's what separates the good teams from the great teams. If we have all those good habits and we have that hunger and desire to win then hopefully when the big moments come around then we can become successful. The demands of winning every trophy and game has been the biggest achievement in the past 18 months because many good and new players have come in and grasped what is expected of them.

Was that difficult to achieve straight away and does it feel natural now that they have that mentality?

I think when we first got together as a group the talk externally was that it was a transition season but nobody was talking about that inside the building we were fully focused on trying to build this team as quickly as we could and let's not kid ourselves if we were not successful in the first season we might not be sitting here. That's the level of scrutiny that is as this club. You have to be successful and you have to win. We knew that when we were building a new team we had to win quickly.  That is just part and parcel of it. The guys that came in had to have that hunger and the guys that were trying to prove people wrong and bring that success back to the football club. I think when you bring that altogether alongside good players then hopefully more often than not you will be successful.

Did you take the transition year talk personally Callum as you were the captain and a transition would not be happening on your watch as there is a demand for success and Celtic doesn't do transition years?

Exactly. That was the message within the building and let's not kid ourselves on we don't (do transition years). That's the crux of it and how to get there of course there are many different ways to get there. I believe that if you work hard and give everything every day then you have a better chance of being successful than not. That is my take on it.

READ MORE: Celtic, Ange Postecoglou & Gianluca Vialli - Tony Haggerty's League Cup semi-final preview

Hampden has been good to you this is a venue where you have been pretty successful in your career isn't it even from your youth days?

I have enjoyed a fair bit of success at Hampden but that will not count for much come the weekend. It is always nice to have those career memories and you have a good feeling about coming here. If we don't prepare properly for the game at the weekend and we don't turn up and do all the right things we won't be successful and that is the challenge for us.

Kilmarnock gave you a game for the first 44 minutes last weekend was that a reminder that you cannot take anything for granted this weekend?

Yes, of course. It is quite unique that we play them back-to-back once in the league and once in the cup and we got a feel for them from last week but cup football is always different in that if you don't perform you are out. Everybody knows that. They will come with nothing to lose and we have to be prepared for all the eventualities in the game. If we turn up and show hunger and quality then hopefully we will have enough to progress.

You have played in treble-winning teams before does this squad have a treble in them?

I was waiting on that one. We focus on the next game and the next game is the biggest and that is Saturday.

We have heard how Ange Postecoglou said winning the League Cup last season spurred Celtic on can that help again this season?

It was vital for the group last season and it kept us going. It lets everybody know that you are doing good things at the training ground and we have a similar mindset this year with full preparation for the game at the weekend. If we progress to the final we will look at that when it comes.

How have you taken to giving the team talks and the huddle addresses? Is it second nature to you or are there any signs of nerves when you deliver those?

I feel pretty settled in it now. That comes with experience and the more times you do it all becomes natural. The one thing I always wanted to do with the group was to be authentic. You find your own way of getting information across and that's what I seem to be doing. Hopefully that continues.

Callum McGregor was promoting Viaplay’s exclusively live coverage of the Viaplay Cup match Celtic v Kilmarnock on Saturday at 5.30pm. Viaplay is available to stream from viaplay.com or via your TV provider on Sky, Virgin TV and Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription