Callum McGregor did not deserve to be associated with that surrender.

I have to admit, I have been thinking about Callum McGregor since the final whistle at Ibrox. Not only because Celtic lost 3-0 to the Ibrox mob, although that result still makes my blood boil, but because of the anger on our captain’s face.

Anger at the team. Anger at himself. Anger at a performance so disjointed, so fractured, so painfully short of what Celtic should be.

And I understand that anger. Callum McGregor is not just another player who happens to wear the green and white. He is a man who has devoted his footballing life to this club. He has carried Celtic through difficult nights, glorious afternoons, rebuilding periods, European disappointments and domestic triumphs.

He has been there when the pressure was enormous, when the expectations were relentless and when somebody had to stand up and take responsibility. But yesterday, watching Celtic fall apart at Ibrox, I could not escape one uncomfortable thought: have we, as a club, asked Callum McGregor to carry far too much for far too long?

And worse still, have we failed to give him the players around him who could take some of that weight off his shoulders? Because there is a difference between expecting your captain to lead and expecting him to perform miracles.

I have enormous respect for Callum.

Whatever anyone thinks about his current form, his age, his legs, his influence or his performances, I will not forget what he has given Celtic. I will not suddenly turn around and pretend that the man who has served this club with such commitment is the problem simply because he is no longer able to do the work of three players at once.

That is not how football works. A midfielder needs movement around him. He needs options and teammates who understand when to come short, when to run beyond, when to cover space and when to make themselves available. He needs players who can take responsibility when the game becomes difficult.

He needs a team. And yesterday, Celtic did not look like a team capable of supporting its captain. We looked fractured and disconnected, like eleven players wearing the same shirt but not always playing the same game.

The passing was poor, the movement was limited and the decision-making was questionable. The overall performance was, in my English-teacher verdict, unacceptable for the champions of Scotland in a fixture of this magnitude.

I am not saying Callum was perfect. He would be the first to admit that he was not, but I refuse to place the entire burden of that defeat on a man who has already carried Celtic through more than enough.

This is the part that frustrates me most.

Celtic have had opportunities to strengthen, to build a midfield and a squad capable of competing at a higher level. We have had opportunities to bring in players who could give Callum the support, energy and quality that he deserves. Instead, too often, the responsibility returns to the same familiar shoulders.

Callum must organise. Callum must dictate. Callum must recover and cover. Callum must make the pass, calm the team and somehow make sense of a performance that makes very little sense. But who is helping Callum?

That is my question. When I look at Celtic, I do not want to see our captain being asked to compensate for every weakness around him.

I want to see him surrounded by players who can share the responsibility, give him the freedom to play his football and make Celtic stronger, rather than simply asking him to make everyone else better. A captain should lead the orchestra.

He should not have to play every instrument.

I watched Callum’s reaction after the game, and I saw a man who was angry because he knew Celtic had failed. He was angry at himself, yes, but I also believe he was angry because the performance was not good enough from the people around him.

And I cannot blame him.

Imagine giving your footballing life to Celtic. Imagine spending years carrying the expectations of supporters, wearing the captain’s armband, representing the club in the biggest fixtures and trying to maintain the standards Celtic should have. Then imagine walking into Ibrox, in a match that matters enormously to the supporters, and finding that the team around you is not functioning.

That must be incredibly frustrating.

Callum McGregor cannot be expected to solve every problem. He cannot compensate for every misplaced pass, every missed challenge, every lack of movement and every tactical failure. He is a footballer, not a one-man rescue operation.

Yesterday, I felt that Celtic had failed him. Not because he was blameless or because he should never be criticised, but because the club has a responsibility to build a squad that allows its captain to succeed. If we know Callum is getting older, we should be planning intelligently around him.

If we know he cannot cover every blade of grass forever, we should be recruiting players who can share the work. If we know he needs quality around him, we should be providing it. That is not sentimentality. That is football management.

I have always believed that Celtic should look after the people who have given the club their best years. That does not mean giving them automatic places in the team regardless of form. It means making sure their careers are not made unnecessarily difficult by poor planning.

Callum has earned the right to play in a Celtic team that is properly constructed, with quality around him and teammates who can take responsibility. He has earned the right not to be left carrying the emotional and footballing weight of every Celtic failure. I am not asking for special treatment for him. I am asking that all of us apply common sense.

The club should be building for the future while respecting the present. It should be developing younger players, recruiting intelligently and ensuring that the midfield is not dependent on one man’s ability to keep everything together. That should have been happening long before yesterday.

If Celtic are serious (yes, I know) about competing in Europe, maintaining domestic dominance and being a club worthy of its history, we need more than one player trying to hold the whole structure upright.

We need a squad with balance and quality. Above all, we need a team that understands what it means to play for Celtic.

What worries me is that we have seen this kind of situation before.

A poor performance, a disappointing result, a player taking responsibility, and then the conversation moves on without addressing the deeper problem. I do not want Celtic to simply shrug and say, “We were poor yesterday.”

Of course we were poor. We lost 3-0 to the Ibrox mob.

But why were we poor? Why did the midfield look so disjointed? Why did our captain appear to be carrying so much responsibility? Why did the team lack cohesion, and why were we not prepared to deal with the intensity of the fixture?

These are not questions that can be answered by blaming Callum McGregor.

They are questions for the manager, the recruitment department and the people responsible for building the squad. If Celtic need more quality around Callum, the club must plan to provide it at the next opportunity. But the transfer window being closed does not excuse waiting to address the way this team is organised.

The manager can change the balance, the roles and the demands placed on the players already here. He can make sure that supporting the captain is a shared responsibility. That work cannot wait until next summer or until the next crisis arrives. It has to begin now.

I will not write off Callum McGregor because he had a difficult game at Ibrox. I will not forget his contribution to Celtic because he is no longer able to dominate every match in the way he once did. And I will certainly not pretend that he is the reason Celtic lost 3-0.

But I will say this: Callum McGregor deserved better from Celtic yesterday.

He deserved teammates who could share the burden and a midfield that could function as a unit. He deserved a team that could stand up in a fixture of this magnitude. And he deserved a club that had done more to ensure that the weight of Celtic’s ambitions did not rest so heavily on his shoulders.

When I look at Callum, I do not see a player who has failed Celtic. I see a player who has given Celtic everything. And I see a club that must now ask itself whether it has given him everything he needs in return.

Even the green and white lion of Celtic Park cannot carry an entire team alone. Callum McGregor has carried Celtic for years. It is time Celtic took some of the burden off him.

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