Callum McGregor issues defiant Celtic response to Rangers defeat and James Bisgrove claims

Callum McGregor has no doubts that Celtic can maintain their status as the top dogs in Scottish football despite Rangers outlining plans to knock them off their perch.

The Parkhead side can wrap up a domestic treble with victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle in next month's Scottish Cup final having already secured the Premiership title and the Viaplay Cup. Rangers will end the season trophyless but incoming chief executive James Bisgrove, who will officially step up from his current role as director of commercial and marketing on July 31, revealed his Ibrox strategy involves becoming Scotland’s “dominant club” over the next two years. Celtic captain McGregor dismissed the claim as "outside noise" and insisted that his side are solely focused on building from a position of strength and taking their own game to the next level.

"To be honest, I don't think we look at any outside noise at all," McGregor responded. "I'm pretty sure if you asked the manager at any point in the season, is he looking to strengthen the club, or if you asked the players, are they looking to strengthen their own game and collectively together, then the answer to that is absolutely always.

"I don't think in sport you can ever stand still. You've always got to continue to push forward and try to get better in many different ways. So as long as we've got a mindset within the club that we continue to push forward, then that's what's more important for us as players and staff, that the club has got a vision moving forward and they are aggressive in the way they want to progress the club all the time. As long as we keep doing that and focus on ourselves, I've got no doubt that we'll continue to get better as well."

Callum McGregor in action for Celtic during the 3-0 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

While Celtic have enjoyed the upper hand over Rangers this season the Ibrox side restored some pride with a 3-0 win at Ibrox last Sunday, albeit it came too late to have any bearing on the title race. McGregor described the defeat as a "slap in the face" but remained defiant over his club's success. "I think it's important we don't lose sight of what we've been doing and how good we've been this season," he said. "We've got two trophies in the bag and we're going for a third one, so you don't just rip up the rule book when you get a defeat. It doesn't matter how few and far between they are, I've been in football a long time now to understand you don't get too high when things are going well and you don't get too low when you have a bad result or performance.

"It's more about the process of how we want to work and I think over the piece we've had a good process in place since the manager's came in. We've had a lot more positive results than negative so to come away from any of that or try to do something different after a defeat doesn't make much sense. We learn from the game but there's a lot of positives that have happened this season and I think at this point it's a lot more important to be focusing on the positives and a really exciting end to the season."