Callum McGregor's Celtic League Cup rallying cry

The captain heard all the white noise pre-season surrounding the men in green and white. He chose to ignore it. It's just as well he did.

The Scotland midfielder revealed the very thought any Celtic team would simply write off a campaign before it had even begun didn't sit right with anybody inside the corridors of Lennoxtown or Parkhead.

It was just never going to happen - and certainly not on McGregor's watch.

Celtic don't do transition years you see. In the club's illustrious 135-year history it never has done. Sure, they may have underachieved in some of those years but they have never been a team 'in transition'.

Ironically McGregor, Postecoglou and company certainly had the last laugh when Celtic scooped the domestic league and League Cup double in the Aussie's maiden campaign as the boss and the skipper's first season with the armband.

"I think when we first got together as a group the talk externally was that it was a transition season," McGregor said at Hampden yesterday ahead of the League Cup semi-final against Kilmarnock. "But nobody was talking about that inside the building we were fully focused on trying to build this team as quickly as we could.

"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."

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

When asked if he took the team in transition narrative personally, McGregor replied: "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. 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."

McGregor was speaking from his happy place to be fair - Hampden to be precise - as he previewed Saturday's League Cup semi-final against Kilmarnock at the national stadium.

It was Lisbon Lion Bertie Auld who once famously quipped that Celtic were that used to turning up at Hampden and plundering silverware that they used the Mount Florida site as a training base.

The 29-year-old would never be as blase as the force of nature that was Auld but he would still be well within his rights to call the stadium a home from home.

Four Scottish Cups and five League Cups he has plundered on this dear green field. He entered the history books last season when he became a Celtic cup-winning captain and not just a member of a cup-winning team.

Last season's victory against Hibernian, courtesy of Kyogo Furuhashi's exquisite double, felt different. It felt special as Postecoglou had fashioned his so-called rag, tag and bobtail team into trophy winners. Not bad for a team in transition, cobbled together in five short months.

While it was a watershed moment in McGregor's personal Celtic career, he has already set his sights on retaining the League Cup and adding his sixth medal from the competition to his haul.

"It was great, I think a big moment for the group," he said of last year's win. "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 to 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. 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."

Even earning the fulsome praise of Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes in comparison to other successful Celtic sides won't wash with McGregor as, come Saturday, it will be very much a case of business as usual.

He said: "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, and 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.

"It will be a tough game, it was a tough game last weekend and Kilmarnock will make it difficult. We are desperate to win and show everyone how good a team we are. 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.”

Captain. Leader. Legend. That was the moniker of the man McGregor replaced in the role of Celtic captain - the legendary figure of Scott Brown.

No pressure then. If there was any McGregor didn't show one iota of anxiety. He's a dab hand at these big-match team talks and Celtic huddle speeches now.

"I have been in football long enough to know that it's a ruthless sport and people are just waiting for you to fail," he said. "You try to 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.

"This is a club that is steeped in success throughout its history. It was successful before Scott (Brown) got it (the captaincy) 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.

"I feel pretty settled in the role now. Giving big team talks and speeches in the huddle 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."

The Celtic skipper is certainly comfortable in his own skin. He has found his own voice and put his own stamp on the club captaincy within that dressing room.

In fact, you could say that McGregor has transitioned into the role of Celtic captain seamlessly and, above all else, highly successfully.

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