MARTIN O’NEILL reckons it would be a major shock. Same goes for pretty much everyone else in and around Scottish football. But why shouldn’t Callum McGregor jump ship to join former manager Brendan Rodgers in Saudi Arabia before the end of the month if Celtic carry on being as big a joke as this?
McGregor was wrong not to lobby for a transfer when Rodgers made approaches to take him to Leicester City after the first of his Parkhead disappearing acts in 2019. It remains a frustration that the 32-year-old never tested himself at a higher level, never had a go at it in England, never pushed the envelope.
He really shouldn’t make the same mistake again – even if the latest opportunity to link up with his former manager at Al-Qadsiah is more about shunting stratospheric amounts of cash into his bank account rather than scaling the heights of the professional game.
Yes, we can talk about the trophies McGregor has captained Celtic to in the interim and the fact he went to two major tournaments with Scotland. It doesn’t really wash, though. Rodgers was always clear that McGregor was good enough to play for a top-six club in the Premier League and it’s just a shame that assertion will now forever be untested.
McGregor, for all his success, feels like someone who just never fulfilled his full potential. That’s not intended to be an insult. It should be taken as a compliment.
Callum McGregor has played his entire career at Celtic despite interest from England
Callum McGregor takes instruction from Wilfried Nancy during the Frenchman’s ill-fated reign
His game intelligence alone, never mind his professionalism and leadership, would have given him a great chance of forging an admirable career in bigger and better leagues than the Scottish Premiership.
He’s been happy at Celtic, though. And that’s totally fine. Being satisfied with your lot in life is a desirable state of mind to occupy. He clearly felt everything he needed in a professional context resided there.
Things are different around those parts now, though. The football department has descended into chaos. A cloth-eared board has lost all sense of direction under the stern hand of major shareholder Dermot Desmond. There are many things you can say about the champions, but ‘a happy place to be’ is not one of them.
Thanks to the nutballs nature of this particular season – with league leaders Hearts making strong progress and both sides of the Old Firm possessing all the consistency in their decision-making that you’d expect from a three-year-old who’s eaten too many sweeties – absolutely anything could happen in the race for the title.
Martin O’Neill has returned to Celtic as caretaker manager for the second time this season
O’Neill’s return to Celtic as manager is ridiculous, of course. It was crazy they brought him back first time around. That’s he’s in the dugout, again, in the wake of the 33-day clownshow spearheaded by Wilfried Nonsense just points to the lack of ambition and imagination that has that club in a chokehold.
Yet, the 73-year-old’s initial stint as interim boss suggests he will be able to galvanise this ill-constructed squad of players and start getting results again.
That makes it hard to see McGregor walking away when there is still a title up for grabs. The fact O’Neill has stated that he doesn’t think Celtic could cope with him leaving makes a departure seem even more unlikely. They will be looking for a sizeable transfer fee and that, alone, has the potential to be a perfectly effective roadblock.
The club’s directors also know what McGregor leaving midway through the season would stir up among a fanbase already edging dangerously close to taking the Iranian approach to demanding regime change.
Over and above all that, McGregor is not the type, if we may paraphrase that mysterious Parkhead source from Rodgers’ latter days, to ‘engineer his exit’ either. He lives for winning trophies at Celtic and would love to pull this championship out of the fire.
It’s where the events of the next few weeks are likely to be vital, though. O’Neill demanding action in the market on Friday just amplified the noise of alarm bells that were clanging loudly anyway.
With former head of football operations Paul Tisdale having been jettisoned back to football’s hinterland without us ever having benefited from the wisdom that won round the Parkhead Brains Trust, who knows who’s handling recruitment? O’Neill has spoken about Shaun Maloney, whose real job is professional pathway manager, looking into things.
Paul Tisdale has left his role as head of football operations at Celtic
It doesn’t inspire confidence, particularly when the first big news to break was a request to bring back Kyogo Furuhashi on loan from Birmingham. Furuhashi couldn’t get away from Celtic quickly enough a year ago and has done nothing since.
The silliness of inviting him back just reeks of a club with no new ideas. They re-signed a Kieran Tierney who isn’t the same player who went to Arsenal. Jota is back too. He’s injured, but hands up who really thinks he’s going to tear the place up when he returns.
That O’Neill doesn’t seem to think a new keeper is worth investigating is a worry too. Kasper Schmeichel, a not-so-sprightly 39, is not having a good season, but the manager’s defence of him will surely have troubled No 2 Viljami Sinisalo as well.
‘I don’t know enough about the young Finnish lad,’ he said of the 24-year-old. Not quite up there in terms of writing off former Hoops keeper Stewart Kerr as someone who ‘played about 15 times… then discovered crisps when he was 18’, but not exactly a masterclass in motivation all the same.
McGregor needs to keep an eye on all this. Particularly when Rangers are springing into action with deals close for Tuur Rommens and Tochi Chukwuani and several other targets, including Hibs striker Kieron Bowie, on the agenda.
Martin O’Neill looks set to keep faith with out of form Kasper Schmeichel
Their manager Danny Rohl looks he’s really growing into that job. He’s avoided banana skins, and delivered results. There was a time when Philippe Clement gave off similar vibes, so let’s not get carried away yet, but the German seems to have a pragmatic handle on the job he’s in – and a powerbroker in chairman Andrew Cavenagh who accepts he made a ricket of things and is committed to change.
At Hearts, meanwhile, tweaks to the squad have been long in the planning with Jordi Altena and Islam Chesnokov in the door. More will follow.
Yet, we’re 11 days into the January window and all Celtic have done is a loan deal for Julian Araujo, probably little more than a hangover from Nancyball.
Danny Rohl has dragged Rangers back into the Premiership title race
The easy answer for McGregor is to sit this season out and see if Rodgers still has space in his squad in the summer. He might not, though. This might be the one big chance the midfielder has to land an outrageously lucrative contract, build up real, generational, life-changing wealth.
There’s nothing more for McGregor to achieve at Parkhead. If Ross Desmond’s AGM-ending statement is anything to go by, the board have given up on Europe. In any case, a new boss next season will probably want a new captain to build around.
Should this season prove to be his swansong, the 32-year-old deserves to leave with grace and respect.
If Celtic don’t start make some big statements in this window, though, there’s a fair chance it will all conclude with him dodging airborne crush barriers in the Parkhead car park and being bonked on the head by another sex toy aimed at Jota.
He would do well to take his lead from studying what those above him in the pecking order achieve in the market over the next week or so – and keep the Brodge’s number on speed dial just in case.
Hearts keeping calm amid transfer madness at title rivals
Hearts manager Derek McInnes reports that everyone inside Tynecastle is ‘quite relaxed’ about the January window while both sides of the Old Firm charge around like maniacs trying to get folk through the door.
And why shouldn’t they be? Recruitment, aided by the magic mincing machine of Jamestown Analytics, has been in the planning for some time.
Jordi Altena made a pleasing debut against Livingston last weekend and another exciting talent in Islam Chesnokov is now in the building. The thought of him on one flank and Alexandros Kyziridis on the other should give other clubs mild palpitations.
The return of record signing Eduardo Ageu to full fitness remains an intriguing prospect and negotiations look to be ongoing over Vardar Skopje’s prolific Ugandan striker Rogers Mato.
The Tynecastle outfit need a little freshness and a little more depth for the second part of the campaign – nothing more – and these guys should certainly fit the bill. Anything else will be a bonus.
Alexandros Kyziridis has already proven a revelation at Hearts this season
It still feels difficult, of course, to proclaim the Jam Tarts champions-in-waiting. Even the bookies haven’t maintained their position as favourites despite a brief switch in the market earlier in the week.
Rangers have already committed millions to signing Tuur Rommens and Tochi Chukwuani. Other big-money deals are also in the offing.
What happens at Celtic remains to be seen – although manager Martin O’Neill breaking cover and demanding the board get their collective finger out should see something of note get done.
Normally, money talks in football. Yet, the Old Firm are doing all this on the hoof. They’re making up for heinous mistakes made previously in the transfer market and that affects things along with trying to rebuild squads in the middle of a season.
Hearts aren’t in that boat. By contrast, they are tweaking things.
The Gorgie outfit have the highest win percentage in the league. They’ve scored more goals than anyone else. They have a superior goal difference. They have the best away record.
Tuur Rommens is reportedly close to joining Rangers for big money
Above all else, they have beaten both Celtic and Rangers twice so far this season. They are the form team. Everything points to them having the measure of their main rivals. That’s why remaining relaxed, to use McInnes’ parlance, could be just as important as all the wheeling and dealing taking place on either side of the M8 this month.
Hearts deserve to be where they are. The stats and analysis should help convince them they have what it takes to go all the way.
Keep doing what they have been doing up to now and the title is theirs for the taking. The building blocks are there.
With reinforcements already arriving, cool heads – and an ability to carry on performing despite the nerves and tension and expectation reaching fever pitch – are going to be what the second half of their campaign is really all about.
Being relaxed is good. Staying relaxed is the challenge.
