McCowan vows to follow his Skipper
Midfielder urges team-mates to use McGregor’s composure as example
WHEN Celtic needed composure amid the swirling external noise, up stepped inspirational skipper Callum McGregor. Not for the first time in his Celtic career, either.
The captain lashed home a beauty from outside the box in the 95th minute to hand Celtic a priceless 1-0 win over St Mirren at the SMiSA Stadium on Saturday night.
There are ways to win a football match, and McGregor’s strike was the epitome of it.
Never mind the high-octane drama that unfolded at Friday’s aborted AGM. McGregor was too busy penning a screenplay of his own based on the fundamentals of dealing with leadership, pressure and influence.
None of those three qualities was lost on second-half substitute Luke McCowan.
When you have the likes of McGregor, the metronome in the team, then the benchmark is set rather high.
The emotional volatility of football is hard to escape, both on and off the field at times, but as McCowan has observed first-hand, McGregor has an unerring ability to shut out the noise.
McCowan said: “He is so vocal before a game, vocal during it, but then leads by example with his qualities. That’s the thing I’m hammering myself at. Both he and I and all the guys in the squad have got to hammer in this message of ‘You’ve got to just stay on top of the quality’.
“It’s always about being relentless in these games and coming and showing that we’re a good side, regardless of what we’re going through or irrespective of what’s happening. You’ve just got to go and show that you’ve got the qualities to be a Celtic player.
“I think that Calum exemplifies that as a player, as a captain, as a leader. The qualities he’s got. He keeps going and going and going, and long may it continue.
“I think that’s just being present. You’ve got to try to stay that way when you’re a football player. It’s so hard when you play with a big club like Celtic and things are happening. It’s just a hard thing to do.
“I said that to him right after. I said, ‘Mate, you’ve no idea, just the calmness you show in moments like that, to then go and do it’.
“He did it in the semi-final [against Rangers] as well. He’s a great, great leader and, as I said, he shows by example every time.”
The backdrop of Celtic supporter unrest, anti-board protest and an air of general turbulence surrounding the club formed part of the prematch discourse leading up to this one in Paisley.
McCowan does not exist in a vacuum, and he sees and hears it all.
However, his coping mechanism, rather like his skipper, is to stay in the present and not be distracted by external factors.
A footballer’s job is always to win football matches, and McCowan is cogniscent of that.
There will always be noise at a club like Celtic; it is how you handle it as a player that determines whether you will be successful or not.
McCowan is well-versed in the idea of living in the Celtic bubble, which offers a mental refuge from scrutiny.
It also helps block out the noise, even if the outside world pervades his home and family life.
He said: “I can only speak for myself. As you know, obviously, growing up being a Celtic fan and that, it is actually easy for me to block out the noise.
“I think you get maybe the nervousness from yourself in terms of just playing in general and wanting to win that badly.
“Being desperate to win, being desperate to get the three points, probably because of the slow start in the league as well. As soon as that desperation starts, I think you’ve just got to try and calm yourself, as we’ve said there about Cal.
Regardless of how the fans are feeling, regardless of what’s going on with the board and all that kind of stuff, we as players need to go and get the three points – and it’s as black-and-white as that
“That’s why he leads by example, that’s why some of our other guys lead by example because they stay present, they stay in this football game, they remain in this situation as it is in the game.
“You want to stay in that, and that’s the only way that you go forward: by taking those moments, dealing with them, onto the next.
“So you go on to Thursday, you deal with that. You go as a team, you go as a club together, you go to the game, so you try and stick together.
“Listen, the players haven’t got any say or control on what’s happening, but we just need to go and do a job for this club, and that’s the main thing that we need to do.
“Regardless of how the fans are feeling, regardless of what’s going on with the board and all that kind of stuff, we as players need to go and get three points – and it’s as black-andwhite as that.
“I’ll always say it, that’s what we need to do, and that’s at the end of the day what we’re judged on. I mean, if we go away and we have a bad performance, it’s, ‘Those players weren’t good enough today’, regardless of what’s going on.
“It’s us players who need to take a bit of pride in our performances and the qualities we’re showing, and that’s probably why we’re hammering that message of ‘You need to keep showing that you’re a top Celtic player’.
“Celtic is a massive, massive club. I’m getting passionate about it, but when you play in a big club, that’s what you need to do. You need to block out everything, regardless of everything that’s going on.
“Even if you start the game slow, or start the league slow and nothing’s going on with the board, you’re still going to get fans judging you on how you’re playing regardless of that. So you need to put yourself in that bubble because you want to stay present.
“I hear it constantly, aye. Twentyfour seven. That’s all we talk about, day in, day out, every single day. That’s probably why I hang about in the house myself!
“Every family gathering, we’ve had a few birthdays, we go on Sundays, whatever, my whole family talks about it. It’s just about staying out of it and just, as I said, following this guy [Callum McGregor].
“You’ve just got to try and keep yourself in that bubble, and the message he puts across to even the guys who have played here many years before me.
“I’ve just got to try and add on to that and kind of put on that message that we need to keep doing that.”
McCowan stepped off the bench in a new role against St Mirren on the right wing and gave Celtic the jolt of energy the game required.
His entrance helped swing the momentum in Celtic’s favour.
He was typically unperturbed about the demands placed upon him.
The 27-year-old said: “Listen, I’ll play anywhere. To get on the team, I’ll do a job wherever I need to be.
“So if it’s going to be right winger, I’ve played there before, but slightly different, kind of tactically, really. Usually, if I’m playing right winger, I’d go inverted. I was on the outside in this game, and I was getting at people, linking the play, whatever. So needs must.
“I always try to do that. That’s probably something that I pride myself on in my game. I try to bring a bit of enthusiasm and energy, as well as my voice. I also try to make forward runs and forward passes. Whether they come off sometimes is against me!
“As I said, you’ve got to try and change the game when it’s 0–0 and try and come on and help the boys.”