CALLUM McGregor has become a mainstay of the Celtic side, with 50 appearances under his belt in this 2019/20 nine-in-a-row title-winning season

The Youth Academy graduate has now picked up six league winner’s medals following this season’s success – the club’s ninth consecutive title – and he paid tribute to his two team-mates who have been there throughout this whole run of success the club has enjoyed – Scott Brown and James Forrest

“Broony’s such an incredible leader," McGregor said, "and he was the one who managed to galvanise the group after the derby defeat and we went again, and there were just so many good performances since the turn of the year. It’s been excellent.

“It’s also easy to lose sight of how good the first half of the season actually was as well. We went 12 games in all competitions with straight wins, and that kind of form was really good as well.

“Broony’s eight or nine years older than me and he’s still playing 50 games in beside me every week, so it’s testament to his mentality, his work ethic and how well he looks after his body. He seems to be getting even better in the twilight years of his career. The way that he plays, he could probably play for another two, three or four years.”

Like McGregor, James Forrest came through Celtic’s Youth Academy, with both players the perfect role models for the young players currently at the club who have aspirations to be first-team stars of the future.

“Jamesy’s consistency levels over the nine years since he came into the first team has been incredible,” said Callum McGregor. “As a winger, their form tends to fluctuate in terms of beating people and things like that, but as James has got older, he’s got even better as well, more consistent. Nine times out of 10, he picks the right option, so that shows how hard he’s been working on his game as well, and his hunger as well to go for nine seasons in a row and play at a really top level.

“The club are in a healthy manner the way they have so many homegrown young players that understand what it means to play for Celtic. I think the club are lucky in that sense in that they’ve found a right few good gems through the Academy and that’s helped the stability of the club over the past 10 years.”

Callum McGregor's praise for nine-in-a-row stalwarts