Callum McGregor

He's not as good as the Maestro but to claim he just shuttles it back the way is a nonsense.

Unless I'm in some parallel quadruple whoosh in which case carry on

 

To be fair to McGregor the game has changed a lot tactically in the last 25-30 years since McStay was a player. The high press and limiting a player's time on the ball are far more prevalent than they were back then.

McGregor can turn and drive to goal, find a killer pass and have a pop, we've seen him do it countless times.

I still think McStay is the better of the 2 at this point but McGregor is 25, who's to say he doesn't keep going on his trajectory and overtake the maestro?

 

The Maestro at 25 was several levels above Calum. He will need to go some to emulate Paul

 

The thing that sets McStay apart is he wasn't just cultured. He was a nippy wee * as well. He could mix it with the best of them. Then his class would shine through and that set him apart.

 

You've got a few years on me mucker. I was 6 months old when McStay turned 25, so I'll accept what you're saying.

McGregor is top-class, I genuinely don't think he'd be out his depth in any team or league. I'm amazed that clubs haven't tried more for him given how good he's been for us and goals against Bayern, Ajax, Zenit etc.

The English press fawn over the likes of Grealish with talk of £50 million valuations...that wee guy could not lace CalMac's boots.

Let's be happy to say we've seen both McStay and McGregor in the hoops.

 

Paul was very special before the 90s. He was still easily our best player during the dark days but early/mid 80s forward he was a class apart.

 

I think that's about right for me.

Agreed, I had a poster of Paul McStay on my wall long before I became a Celtic fan; but McGregor in the coming years has advantages Paul McStay sadly never had at the age. Around 26ish was exactly when McStay started having to play with some quite limited players and from around shortly afterwards arguably didn't have access to the same quality of coaching that McGregor has had his whole career. Give me Ronny Deila, Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon over Liam Brady and Lou Macari any day (although the latter is a nice guy).

I think he can become as good as Paul McStay purely and simply because McStay (through no fault of his own), never had the chance to reach his full potential and I think CM will.

 

The Story Of' is a web series dedicated to small but special tales from Celtic’s illustrious history. Here, we look at Callum’s McGregor’s historic Hoops debut.

SCORING a goal on your debut is the stuff of fantasy. Scoring one in Europe after spending a year out on loan is a different level again. In 2014, Callum McGregor’s career in the Celtic senior side got off to a flyer when he did exactly that.

A product of the Celtic Youth Academy, the energetic midfielder was sent out on loan to English League One side Notts County in the summer of 2013. Then 20-years-old, McGregor impressed with 14 goals, 12 of those in the league, and returned to Paradise with a point to prove.

Under then manager Ronny Deila, McGregor made his Celtic debut on Tuesday, July 15 in the first-leg of the Hoops’ UEFA Champions League second qualifying round against Icelandic outfit KR Reykjavik. With just six minutes of normal time remaining, McGregor found the net.

“To come back with a point to prove, to go into the game and to manage to get the winner, I don’t think my Celtic could have started any better than that,” said McGregor. “The significance of that goal was very big, and then I went on to score in the next two rounds as well.”


McGregor’s matchwinner against FK Sarajevo at Paradise last week helped ensure his side progressed to the second qualifying round of this year’s UEFA Champions League, and the now 26-year-old is keen to keep his European goal tally growing.

He added: “Looking back now, it’s almost like I’ve come full-circle, in terms of that being my first game and, even now, five years on, I’m still scoring in these qualifying rounds, still playing a part in the team and trying to drive us on to get there, into the Champions League group-stages again.

 

5 years since his debut * sake where does the time go!? This guy is a priceless player for us right now, competent, classy and cool under pressure

Hopefully he develops at the same rate over the next 5 years to become an all time Celtic legend

 

This for me aswell, he just makes the whole team click and very rarely seems to be off his game. Look at the game the rat played him at LB against the monkeys, he was still our best player that day and was a baw hair away from getting us a draw.

 

McGregor > McStay.

 

No you didn’t.

 

Does anyone think Lennon will get as good out of him, or better than Rodgers did?

 

I'm no doubting his ability one bit, but what i am thinking now is if Lennon can accomodate his superior technical abilities into his style and formation of team he would like?

 

Think he has developed into a truly exceptional player, nd i hate to say it butFradgers the rat had a fair bit to do with that.

He has everything in his locker to be an equivolent of Xavi - but like I say only in the right system can that happen.

If we want a midfielder to be essentially the "quarterback" of the team, then it is none other than McGregor.

He is class as *.

 

I was thinking that he could be a bit like Xavi earlier. With Christie as our Iniesta type player. I should probably stop with the Barcelona player analogy’s though