Former Celtic striker Frank McAvennie has expressed doubts as to whether Callum McGregor could step up and fill the void in leadership that will be left with the departure of Scott Brown.
Brown – who has enjoyed a remarkable 14-year stint with the club – was recently confirmed to be bringing his long-running servitude to the club to an end in favour of taking up a player-assistant coach role at Aberdeen.
At 35 years of age, the seasoned Hoops hero was always going to have one eye tentatively fixed on the end of his career and his move to Aberdeen represents his first foray into coaching.
However, with the loss of such a presence on and off the pitch, Celtic will be left fathoming who could fill the void in both a sporting and a pastoral, leadership-like sense.
Speaking to Football FanCast, McAvennie expressed his doubts that vice-captain McGregor could take up the skipper role: “McGregor’s in there, but I’m not sure McGregor’s a captain. I don’t know if he’s got that pull.
“Paul McStay was quiet, he was the captain when I was playing, but he was quiet. But he did things in the park that would drag people through the game.
“Maybe Callum’s got that in him, but I think Soro and Turnbull might be the future, but I don’t know if they’re ready to make an assault on Europe.”
Only Tom Rogic and James Forrest have served Celtic longer than McGregor, and his vice-captain role is a testament to some form of influence he must hold in the dressing room.
In many ways, McGregor is superficially the natural choice – yet without a fly-on-the-wall level of insight, it is hard to gauge the most suitable skipper candidate with a strong degree of accuracy.
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