Callum McGregor insists Celtic 'three year' rebuild was never an option as captain's pre season claim proven right

Callum McGregor was under no illusions.

At the start of this season people told him new gaffer Ange Postecoglou would need two or three years to rebuild Celtic.

But the Hoops skipper knew that no one really gets that amount of time to succeed at Parkhead.

And after losing three Premiership games in the opening weeks, McGregor and his boss were feeling the heat already.

That’s what made Satiuruso special.

The 28-year-old held aloft his first title trophy as captain as 60,000 fans paid tribute to their new heroes following a 6-0 drubbing of Motherwell.

As a boyhood supporter, McGregor is steeped in the club’s traditions.

So no one had to tell him that, despite Postecoglou’s summer revamp, there was expectation to win.

And after getting his hands on the most important silverware in Scotland, McGregor wants to repeat the feat next term.

As he reflected on the journey this team have been on since Postecoglou arrived, the midfielder said: “You always have to go through difficult moments, especially when you are building a team.

“Everyone at the start of the season was giving us two or three years to do it.

“But I spoke back then and said if we had that mentality within the group we would never achieve anything.

“This club demands success. The reality is that after six weeks we were under pressure. That tells you what the expectation is and we knew that.

“The pleasing thing is you could see everybody was hungry to do well. Then we just had to fine tune it, build performances and togetherness within the team.

“You have to build a team and squad with the same mentality and these boys have got it.

"I saw early on that we had recruited winners and others who experienced last year and didn’t want it again.

“What you see today