On the day when he became just the 14th player in Celtic’s history to reach 500 appearances, it was easy to forget that there was a prologue to Callum McGregor’s career in professional football.
In the summer of 2013, the midfielder had just turned 20. He was still evidently young enough to make it with his parent club yet was old enough for there to be an element of doubt surrounding that.
When he opted to take himself out of his comfort zone by going on loan to Notts County, it felt legitimate to question if this was the beginning of the end for him at Parkhead.
Frankly, many fledgling careers had previously followed that path. In agreeing to spend that year at Meadow Lane, McGregor was hardly falling off the radar. Nor, however, was his progress likely to attract back-page headlines in Scotland.
County had finished mid-table in League One the previous season. It seemed an unlikely place from which to launch a glittering Celtic career. Yet, McGregor insists he never had a shred of doubt that it would all unfold exactly as it did.
‘I think, in my mind, I was going there to try and sort of force my way in,’ he recalled. ‘I know that maybe, back in the day, it wasn’t the done thing to do to go on loan and then come back and kind of use the system that way.
Callum McGregor has become captain fantastic at Celtic, achieving much domestic success
Jack Grealish moved to City for £100m and has won the likes of the Champions League
‘I just thought: “I want to go there”. I wanted to show people that I can play man’s football.
‘I always had it in the back of my head that, even though I was there for a year, I wanted to come back and I wanted to play for Celtic. I just wanted to go and play and prove to people that I could play at that level.’
It was tough and it was unglamorous. He made his debut in a black and white jersey in a League Cup tie against Fleetwood Town.
Just 2,115 hardly souls saw the Scot mark his first appearance with a goal in a 3-2 win that August night. The record books show he lasted 89 minutes before being replaced by future Ross County and St Mirren player Yoann Arquin.
County’s reward for that was a tie at Anfield. McGregor didn’t score in a credible 4-2 defeat but Brendan Rodgers, then Liverpool’s manager, was suitably impressed with what he saw.
It was a torrid year otherwise. With County struggling at the wrong end of the table, manager Chris Kiwomya was sacked and Shaun Derry brought in.
By the end of a fraught campaign in which McGregor still somehow managed 14 goals, the side avoided relegation to the bottom tier by the skin of their teeth.
McGregor wasn’t the only emerging star to offer some light in the dark. Then yet to make his debut for Aston Villa, Jack Grealish was part of the dressing room, making his professional debut in a loss to MK Dons that September.
The Scotsman and the Englishman hit it off and were in touch as their respective careers took off in Glasgow, Birmingham and Manchester.
Football being football, the Celtic skipper and the winger drifted apart, but were able to catch up when Rodgers’ side played Pep Guardiola’s City in North Carolina last summer.
‘We did (keep in contact) for a spell, actually,’ added McGregor. ‘I saw him in America and it was good to see him there and catch up with him briefly.
‘But football’s so busy sometimes that people just drift apart a wee bit. We loved our time there. It was brilliant as they gave us the license to go and play, and we really enjoyed it.’
The talent of both players is so prodigious that you’d imagine they would have risen to the top in any event.
Yet, neither man has ever underplayed the importance of throwing themselves into such choppy waters in those formative years.
Grealish earned a £100million move to City and became a three-times Premier League champion and a Champions League winner.
McGregor eschewed several chances to move to England. Since being handed his Celtic debut by Ronny Deila, he’s won 23 major honours and played in his 100th European game at the end of last year.
In an age in which academy graduates seem increasingly to be chasing a quick buck by moving to England’s bigger clubs, he’s a good advert for patience and persistence.
‘Listen, I understand how big this football club is,’ he said. ‘I think, when you speak to a lot of players when they leave Celtic, they regret it.
‘They realise how big the club is. I think, when you’re young, patience is something you don’t have, especially now in the modern-day world.
‘This is an amazing football club and it can take time. I grew up just five or six minutes away from the stadium, so I felt it my whole childhood.
‘When I walked through the door at the age eight, my only thought was to try and make it to play in the first team.
‘My family just dedicated their whole life to make sure that I had the best chance possible to play for Celtic, which is insane.
‘When I think back now, there’s so much that has gone into it.
‘It was just that was the be all and end all.’
McGregor and Grealish both played on loan at Notts County at the start of their careers
Now in his 11th season as a first-team player, he’s never had to go away to appreciate what he’s got.
The responsibility of playing for Celtic and the joy it can being so many has never been lost on him. Others have discovered that by different means.
At Fir Park on Sunday, Jota marked his return after 18 lost months in Saudi Arabia and France with a goal, a trademark celebration and some tears.
The Portuguese’s salary at Al-Ittihad may have been akin to a telephone number, but all that plus more could not buy the feeling he had left behind in Glasgow.
‘He has settled back in right away and it is as if he left a week ago,’ said McGregor.
‘The one thing he said was: “Cal, I didn’t realise how good this club was”. He felt alive again straight away.’
McGregor’s unbroken service and relentless success have already marked him out as a modern day Celtic great. He has much more to give.
‘It is a massive honour,’ he said of reaching 500 games. ‘If I think right back at the beginning, I could only have dreamed that something like this would happen. It’s a nice day but, come Wednesday, we get back on the horse and go again.’
