CALLUM McGREGOR REVEALS THE FIRST THING WILFRIED NANCY SAID TO HIM AS CELTIC BOSS — AND HE COULDN’T BELIEVE IT

The Glasgow club confirmed the worst kept secret in Scottish football – that the Columbus Crew head coach was going to be the permanent replacement for Brendan Rodgers – before their William Hill Premiership match against Dundee at Parkhead on Wednesday night.
But captain McGregor has revealed that the MLS Coach of the Year had contacted him personally the night before and had also held extensive talks with him before his first training session at Lennoxtown on Thursday.

The former Scotland internationalist has worked under Rony Deila, Rodgers, Neil Lennon and Ange Postecoglou during his time as a player at his boyhood heroes – but he is excited about what lies ahead with Nancy in the dugout.
“There has obviously been a fair bit of change again from just managing to stabilise the situation and a new change, a new manager and new staff,” he said. “Then you very quickly have to get to work and start building relationships again.“The manager’s come in and he spoke really well. He outlined his vision for the team and how he wants us to behave as a group. Then we had the first training session this morning and he was trying to drip feed some ideas and the way that he sees the game.

“We’ve got a short turnaround between the games, so everything needs to be accelerated a little bit. But we’re looking forward to tomorrow’s session then prep for the game (Celtic play Hearts at home in a top-of-the-table Premiership game tomorrow afternoon). Ultimately what matters is what happens on game day.”
McGregor continued, “We touched base on Tuesday night. He sent me a nice message then just teed up meeting him when we came in after the game on Thursday. It’s been good. I spoke to him for about 20-25 minutes before he met the rest of the players.
“He’s a really nice guy, speaks well, has a really good idea of the game and how he wants to deliver it. The first impression’s bee really, really good. Hopefully he got a good impression of me as well.
“I just said I’m here to help him as much as I can. I’ll try and lead the team as best I can on the pitch. It was a really positive meeting. But ultimately how you perform, what you do on the pitch, is where everything will be judged.”