Callum McGregor: We're looking forward to working with new manager | OneFootball

Callum McGregor is an inspirational figure for Celtic both on and off the pitch, and the captain is looking forward to the start of a new era at the club with the arrival of Wilfried Nancy as manager.

The players met their new boss on Thursday and enjoyed their first training session under him today (Friday) ahead of Sunday’s top of the table clash with Hearts at Celtic Park.

Speaking to the media at Lennoxtown today, Callum McGregor said: “We obviously met the manager yesterday afternoon and he spoke really well, so the first time on the pitch is great.

“You get to see everyone and see what everyone’s about and he gets to look at the players as well. It wasn’t too long in terms of the duration of the session but he was starting to drip-feed his ideas into the group, and the group responded well.

“I said that to him the first time I spoke to him that I’m here and I’ll do anything I can help him and help the group, so hopefully we have a very close relationship.

“It’s started really well and he’s been really open and honest, and I will always do my best to help the club and the team perform and be successful.

“He’s come in and it’s a really exciting week – every week at Celtic is a big week – but it is a week of consequence in terms of the league and the midweek game, and then obviously the cup final.

“We’ll just take on game at a time, one training session at a time, but he’s really excited and he just wants the players to go and play and express themselves, and just try and drip-feed little bits of information.

“He's said he doesn’t want to change too much too quickly, so hopefully, just over time we’ll start to add and layer up what we’ve already been doing and he can drip-feed his ideas as well. But ultimately the most important thing is winning games.”

Celtic go into Sunday’s game against Hearts level on points with the league leaders, and also having a game in hand.

The Hoops know that victory on Sunday will put them three points clear at the top of the premiership table, but with so much football still to be played in the league, the Celtic captain knows that the focus for the squad can only ever be on the next game, which will then be Thursday’s Europa League clash at home to Roma.

“The team has done fantastic and it’s a big thank-you to Martin and his staff, who were amazing during that time,” he said.

“We managed to stabilise the team and get us back into a competitive situation, so those guys deserve a lot of credit for that, as do the players because they were the ones who had to go out and deliver on the pitch.

“So I’ve got no doubt the energy in the building is good and can we continue the good work that’s been done.

“It’s obviously an exciting game against Hearts. It is a game of consequence but for us, the next game is the most important so it’s just another opportunity to go, perform and if we can win the game we understand what that means.

“But then very quickly after that we have another massive game on Thursday so we try not to look too much into the sub-plots of the game. We just want to train properly, when we get to the game we give everything we can to make it successful and then we tick that off and we move forward.

“I believe that’s served us well over the last 10-12 years, and it’s something that the boys in the building understand very well – that the next game is the most important.”

Watch the captain’s full press conference