CALLUM McGREGOR has called for everyone at Celtic to pull in the same direction after the fans’ angry reaction during the uninspiring midweek goalless draw in the first leg of the Champions League play-off against Kairat Almaty at Parkhead.
Boos and jeers were directed at the Hoops board as frustration get during an anxious 90 minutes with Brendan Rodgers’ side now facing the daunting task of winning in Kazakhstan on Tuesday.
The lack of quality signings has enraged a section of the support and they vented their frustration as the team failed to overcome the opposition at the first hurdle in the quest to gatecrash the next stage of Europe’s most prestigious tournament and the £40million windfall that comes with it.
EYES ON THE BALL…Callum McGregor is a study in concentration.
McGregor said: “It’s time to stick together. We have to be in unison. Everybody’s accountable at the club.
“Towards the front end of the pitch, we’re a bit light in numbers, but we have to have quality, as well. When you’re at this level you’re trying to recruit good players and they’re hard to come by.
“It’s all well and good getting bodies in the door, but if they don’t help the team then it’s pointless.
“We have to trust everyone. We trust the team on the pitch, we trust the guys running the club to do the right thing and get us the players and then hopefully we can have another positive season.”
The Hoops captain, speaking to BBC Scotland, continued: “Everybody expects us to be in the Champions League and that’s because of how well we have performed.
“So, with good performances come expectation and when you drop below that, people have the right to ask questions and we have the right to ask questions of ourselves.
THE WAY AHEAD…Callum McGregor is urging unity at the champions.
“It’s only us who can change it, it’s only us who can put ourselves into the Champions League again. So, we have a shoot-out, we have to go there and win.
“I believe that this squad is good enough to do it.”
Kyogo Furuhashi, with 85 goals in his three and a half years at the Hoops, moved to Rennes in a £10million switch in January while Nicolas Kuhn, with 21 strikes in the previous campaign, has joined Como for £17.2million this summer.
McGregor added: “When you look at last season, you look how strong the frontline was. That’s why you get good results in the Champions League; you’re performing well, you’ve got quality coming off the bench, the squad’s strong.
MISSING LINK…Nicolas Kuhn celebrates one of his 21 goals last season.
“So of course, when you lose those guys, you have to then replace them with like-for-like quality. If you don’t, then you suffer a little bit.
“We’ve known for a while that we need bodies. But we started the season well and it doesn’t look like anyone’s distracted by what’s going on.
“Everyone just needs to stay together.”
Celtic’s next test comes in the shape of Livingston in tomorrow’s 3pm kick-off at Parkhead.
