Callum McGregor has been around the Glasgow block enough times to know how to shut out the noise coming from across the city.
The Celtic captain reckons the big match mind games done matter a jot because talk is cheap when it comes to the white hot heat of the derby. It might be fever pitch in the west of Scotland in the next week ahead of Sunday’s showdown against Rangers but it will be business as usual for McGregor. The 31-year-old has seen it all in this fixture in his decade at the top and won’t get drawn into the Old Firm blender. Rangers boss Philippe Clement kicked off the fighting talk with his defiant vow his side can claim maximum points at Parkhead after emerging from the weekend with a morale boosting six goal rout of Ross County.
McGregor – who has won or drawn 28 out of his 39 derbies – won’t be nailing any words to the dressing room wall. He said: "No. It's just talk isn't it, and talk's cheap. Nothing really changes, to be honest, everyone knows how big the games are and when they come around, you probably don't need any added motivation for it.”
That doesn’t mean McGregor is underplaying the encounter. Far from it. He also won’t try to dim the passion required for these epic occasions. McGregor said: “You have to have a little bit of emotion and emotion is good in football a lot of the time it's, you know, here's the structure, if we do this a lot of the time, then the probability is you'll have a good day.
"So it's as much about trying to keep the players calm. Obviously, when we arrive to the game, the emotion is important, because you need that, especially in these types of fixtures. But for most of the week, it's just business as usual.
“It's hard, it's hard to take that (emotion) away. I think as much as players and everyone in football tries to dampen it down, it's a big game. So you have to enjoy that. You have to enjoy the responsibility and the experience. So yeah, of course, we need emotion.
“I think when you come to these games, especially at home, you have to try and maximise it as much as you can. And first and foremost, that means three points.
“And if you can match it with a strong performance, then of course, everybody, that would be the ideal world for everyone, but we know it's never as easy as that.
"Rangers are a good side, obviously a really good result yesterday, so we know it will be tough game. We have to give everything that we've got in the tank for the game, and hopefully we can have a positive afternoon.”
There will be no lack of hype ahead of Sunday but this one does come at the end of a week where there’s plenty of other distractions.
Celtic – and Rangers – are poised for a frantic final push in the transfer window, while the Hoops also have Thursday’s Champions League draw in the diary before the Gers’ learn their Europa fate the following day. The Parkhead men have already lost Matt O’Riley to Brighton in a £30m deal but McGregor was thrilled to see Paulo Bernardo slot back in with a solid display in Sunday’s stroll against St Mirren.
A few more new faces are on the way and the skipper said: "Paulo is a very intelligent football player and again, he’s young, can develop, got loads to his game, can tackle, can defend and run, can pass the ball, he can do everything.
"I really enjoyed playing in with him last year at times when he was in the team. So of course, we lose Matty, but again, but it was another strong midfield performance from all three of us.
"I thought Reo Hatate was sensational. So yeah, we're still good in that area. Hopefully we can add maybe one or two more as well before the end of the week, and that gives us a really, such strong midfield part of the team as well.”
McGregor might talk up others but he is the driving force in this Celtic side and he’s made a sensational start to the season. He capped another impressive performance in Paisley with his second stunning goal of the campaign to maintain Celtic’s explosive opening few weeks.
McGregor said: "Momentum is everything in football, and when you're in a good moment, then you want to continue that for as long as possible. Just sometimes when you get a wee purple patch, things seem to fall for you.
"We've started the season well, and that is everybody when the team's playing well, everybody's connected and makes everyone's job easier. And yeah, I’ve chipped in a couple of goals, which is nice, but for me, the main objective is to make sure the team's performing and the game looks the way we want it to look.
“It's an exciting week, for sure. The bit for the players, especially, will be the game next week and a wee bit on the Champions draw as well, we'll see that come in. But the full focus will be on the game, and then we as players just have to let everything else fall into place.”
