Reason to believe
If Hibs can lift the Scottish Cup then why can’t we end Celtic’s record winning run? asks McGregor
WHEN Darren McGregor says ‘anything is possible in football,’ it is not the usual footballer’s cliche. Born and bred in Leith, the Hibs-supporting defender lived the dream in 2016 as a member of the first Easter Road side since 1902 to lift the Scottish Cup.
When you have smashed the biggest curse in Scottish football history, the prospect of becoming the first team to beat Celtic domestically under Brendan Rodgers does not exactly compare.
But that does not stop the 32-year-old admiring the run of 67 games unbeaten domestically that Celtic have strung together before arriving in Leith this coming Sunday lunchtime.
‘If we beat Celtic and end their record? I don’t think it would rank too highly for me,’ shrugged McGregor. ‘Winning the Scottish Cup and winning promotion back to the Premiership with Hibs are my highlights.
‘Ending Celtic’s unbeaten run would be an achievement but it’s the players on the run who will be remembered, not the team that ends it.
‘It’s a tremendous effort to go 67 games unbeaten because so many factors can spring up and make it difficult.
‘But when you have won the Scottish Cup with Hibs, anything is possible in football.
‘I am not sitting here predicting a win on Sunday, though. That would be naive. Brendan Rodgers has done a phenomenal job and to go a year and a half without losing is incredible.
‘But their record is there to be broken and every team that plays Celtic will hope it will be them that does it. We will be working hard on Sunday to try and ensure it’s us.
‘We have caused them problems this season and we need to go into the game believing we can win.
‘If we have a good day and they have an off day, we could get the three points.’
McGregor made his first appearance since August in Saturday’s 1-0 win at Partick Thistle after recovering from knee surgery.
Two lengthy spells on the sidelines at St Mirren, battling back from careerthreatening knee injuries, brought perspective to his latest, short spell out.
He could even smile when teased recently by Ally McCoist, the Ibrox icon who signed him for Rangers.
‘I was walking back to my car after we played Hearts and I saw Ally and Alan Stubbs,’ he recalled. ‘They had been doing the commentary for television and Ally started taking the mickey out of me.
‘He told me he once got back from a cartilage operation in 10 days and he was calling me a big softy because, at the time, I had been out for eight weeks.
‘Supposedly he was back in 10 days, which is incredible. It must have been a wee bit of cartilage — or none at all.
‘But you don’t realise how much you miss football until you are out injured.
‘I suffered two really bad injuries at the start of my career and that was me out for the best part of two years.
‘But I really missed the games and it was great to be back and help keep a clean sheet at Partick Thistle on Saturday.’
McGregor was boosted during his absence by hearing manager Neil Lennon wish he could field a team of ‘11 Darren McGregors’. ‘That was nice but I’m not sure if it was a bit tongue in cheek or he was lying,’ chuckled McGregor, whose side lie fourth, a point behind Aberdeen and Rangers.
‘But I will always give 100 per cent. You could say that’s a given but it’s not — not just in football but in all walks of life. You see people with talent but they don’t live up to expectations because they don’t work hard enough.’ McGregor’s injury woes mean he has yet to face Rodgers’ Invincibles. But he hopes Sunday is a better experience than his first time playing against Celtic.
That was for St Mirren in August 2010 when Danny Lennon warned his players he didn’t want to hear the Parkhead goal anthem: Just
Can’t Get Enough by Depeche Mode. ‘It was my first game at professional level and Danny Lennon deployed me at the top of the diamond in midfield,’ he laughed. ‘I still remember his team talk: “I don’t want to hear that song...”
‘Five minutes later, guess what he hears? Celtic beat us 4-0.
‘That year, Celtic had a fair enough team with guys like Marc-Antoine Fortune, Beram Kayal and Daniel Majstorovic.
‘Now I’m hoping to play against Leigh Griffiths, Moussa Dembele,Tom Rogic and Callum McGregor. They’ve been phenomenal this season.’
DARREN McGREGOR was speaking alongside Hearts winger Malaury Martin as Hibs and Hearts joined forces with Tesco to promote the Edinburgh Cheer Christmas dinner.