CALLUM McGREGOR believes it is absolutely imperative Celtic get it right when they announce their new manager in the summer.
Robbie Keane, currently boss of Hungary’s Ferencvaros, is just one of the names mentioned to take the job on a permanent basis after Martin O’Neill’s two spells in interim charge following the departures of Brendan Rodgers and Wilfried Nancy.
An incoming team chief will be just one piece of the Celtic jigsaw as the club faces a major reset at as soon as this campaign comes to a halt.
McGregor stresses there can be no papering over the cracks that have appeared this term that has seen the team lose EIGHT league games – more than has been inflicted on the champions in the previous two campaigns.
The 32-year-old club captain said: “The manager is the leader of the club. If you get a good manager and a strong leader then it’s great, everyone follows that and it’s dead easy.
“Things have happened this season which probably shouldn’t have happened.
“Whatever way you want to look at it, as soon as you have a poor season, you need to respond.
“We’ve probably sat here before having won a treble or a double and I’ve still said we need to respond because it’s just that type of club where success is always demanded.
“The minute you drop below that, there’s somebody wanting to take a pop at you. That’s the nature of the beast.”
McGregor, speaking to the Scottish Sun, continued: “Looking at where we’ve been throughout the season, there have been a couple of low points, but it’s hopefully building back up to a good finish.
“We can’t then just say: ‘We managed to survive that, everything’s great, let’s keep it as it is’.
“There has to be a continual push to be better, to have as good a squad as you can have, pushing in all the different areas to try to make us an elite-level club.
“That’s where we want to be. We want to be in the Champions League, we want to be winning the league, winning the Cups.
“That ambition can’t change. You now have to double down on that and say: ‘We need to make a statement here as a club’.
“Hopefully, that brings the feeling alive again, we can do our bit on the pitch and finish with two trophies.
“But there also has to be something to back that up.”
The inspirational club captain added: “We have to continue to push and be the best version of Celtic we can be.
“Then you have to trust the guys who have the qualifications, who know how to run clubs and are in the positions, to do the job.
“You have to give them that trust to do the job properly – and that’s where we are.
“Everyone looks at the football department and says: ‘Right, he’s accountable’.
“It has to be the same throughout the whole club.”
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