Luke McCowan says Celtic’s experienced dressing room never lost belief during the title race collapse and pointed directly toward Callum McGregor’s leadership as one of the biggest reasons the team recovered to win the league.
The midfielder admitted there were difficult moments during the season, especially after Wilfried Nancy’s spell left Celtic chasing rather than leading. For many of the newer players in the squad, it was the first time they had experienced that kind of pressure while playing for the club.
McCowan had already seen enough internally not to panic.
Celtic eventually recovered strongly under Martin O’Neill and finished the season with the league title and Scottish Cup despite looking vulnerable during the winter months. The dressing room atmosphere changed quickly once performances stabilised again and experienced players stepped forward.
McGregor’s influence appears to have been central throughout that period.
The Celtic captain has lived through title races, setbacks and pressure moments repeatedly during his career. McCowan believes that experience helped settle the squad when outside noise around the club became louder.
Speaking to Celtic TV, McCowan reflected on why his confidence in the squad never disappeared despite the difficult run of results earlier in the campaign.
He said: “The reason I said that is because I’ve got that much belief in this group.
“I’ve trained with all the boys every day and I’ve played in this league for so many years.
“I know there’s amazing teams in the league and amazing players in the league. I’ve just got more faith in my team, my squad, my team-mates and the staff than I do anybody else. I knew if we got ourselves going and firing in the right way that we would retain the title, and that’s exactly what we did.”
McCowan also pointed toward the experienced core inside the dressing room and the standards they demanded once the title race tightened.
He added: “The main thing this year is we had a huge core group that knows what it means to play for Celtic.
“The guys in the changing room have been through hard times before and they used those experiences to make sure it didn’t happen again.
“Cal speaks so well and he kept reminding everybody that if we stuck together and kept performing then we’d give ourselves the best chance.”
That mentality became obvious during the final weeks of the season.
Celtic handled pressure matches far better once O’Neill returned. The team looked calmer defensively and more direct in attack. Senior players also carried more responsibility during difficult away fixtures where earlier performances had drifted badly.
For McCowan, it was a first proper experience of chasing a title from behind at Celtic.
By the end of the season, the same group that looked fragile in January had recovered strongly enough to complete the double.
The value Mcgregor brings to the team, playing or not, is so underrated and undervalued.
You listen to some of the rocket scientists criticizing him if he has a less than man of the match performance, saying, “he’s done” “he needs to be dropped” “he should be replaced as captain” and utter trash like this!
You realize just how little some so-called fans know when they spout this garbage!