You can’t underestimate- former skipper reveals huge boost for Celtic

After winning 14 out of 15 SPFL Premiership matches Scott Brown expects Celtic to be stronger when the season resumes on December 17 at Aberdeen.

Over a two week period Ange Posstecoglou’s side face trips to Pittodrie, Easter Road and Ibrox which will test their title credentials to the full, emerging from that run with a nine point gap at the top of the table will put the hoops in a very strong position.

No signings can be played before January 2 but there is likely to be a very significant addition to the squad that travels to Aberdeen with Callum McGregor in the final steps of his rehab from a knee injury.

Saturday’s friendly against Stade Rennais should see the captain back in action with Brown knowing better than most the influence that the midfielder has across the club.

Discussing McGregor with the Daily Record, the Fleetwood boss said:

Trust me, you can’t underestimate the influence Callum has inside that dressing room in terms of setting standards for the rest of the group.

He certainly won’t allow complacency to set in and that’s one reason why Ange will be delighted to have him back at this critical stage in the season. You need to make sure you maintain those standards and focus on the next game.

It can be a mistake to look too far ahead of yourselves but they’ve got two cups there to be won and they’ll want to make sure they challenge for them. Most importantly, they’ll want to win the league and they’re obviously in a great position to do that at this point.

But they have to push on in the second half of the campaign and having a guy like Callum back in there to drive things from the inside will be a massive help in achieving all of that.

McGregor’s last appearance was away to RB Leipzig on October 5 when he suffered a first half injury.