The Norwich fans may not have believed the Billy Gilmour hype but Callum McGregor certainly does.
It’s been a tough year for the Scotland kid on loan from Chelsea at Carrow Road.
Booed by the Canaries faithful and branded a flop by the local media down there, a season to forget for the 20-year-old was completed when Dean Smith’s side were relegated from England’s top flight with four games to spare.
It’s been a boot to the haw maws certainly, but McGregor has been shocked by the kicking dished out to his young Scotland midfield sidekick as his reputation as one of the Premier League’s hottest young talents took a beating.
Gilmour now hopes to put his East Anglian agony behind him having joined up with Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad ahead of Wednesday’s Ukraine showdown.
And Celtic skipper McGregor has already seen enough of Gilmour’s steely resolve to be sure his nightmare in Norfolk is merely a bump on the road that will one day surely to lead him to greatness.
“Listen, he’s a young kid and everybody goes through this,” insisted McGregor. “You come in, you start on fire, you have a little dip and then you come back.
“I watch Billy every day in training and he’s top level.
“He’s confident with the ball. He can take it under pressure, he can play one or two touch. His performances for Scotland have been first class.
“Everybody has difficult spells in their careers.
“With Billy, because everyone hyped him so highly at the start it’s inevitable he’s going to have a dip in form at some point.
“That’s normal. It’s natural for young players.
“What we have to do as a nation is help him. Give him the confidence and tools to go play. Tell him, ‘this is your stage, go enjoy it. We’ll look after you’.
“We have to look after him as experienced pros. Everybody surrounding the country, the press, has got to look after him because he’s a top, top talent.”
To be fair to Gilmour, he could have chucked it in and trudged back to Stamford Bridge in January as his Norwich loan unravelled.
Instead, he chose to stick it out in the hope of winning over his doubters.
“You don’t get to this level without being mentally strong and being able to go again every three days with all these big games,” said McGregor.
“The situation at Norwich will help him even more as well.
“You have to face adversity in your career to learn. When it’s all going well it’s brilliant. You think it’s never going to end.
“But then one day, bang! You get a slap in the face and that brings you back down to earth.
“But that allows you to learn and I’m 100 percent sure he feels that way too.
“He’s come in. He’s bright, he’s bubbly and he’s ready to go.”
At Chelsea, Gilmour is regarded as one for the future.
But it was not just the difference in footballing styles he was forced to adapt to as he was taken out of his west London comfort zone, something McGregor can appreciate himself having moved on loan to Notts County before embarking on his trophy-ladder Hoops career.
“You go away, you live in a different place, all of that has an impact,” explained the Parkhead captain. “It’s similar for Billy who moved away from London and had to find his feet in terms of his personal life.
“All of that is a big challenge. He goes from playing for one of the top teams in the country having the ball every week to going and playing for a team that doesn’t have the ball a lot.
“It becomes difficult, especially for someone like Billy who likes having the ball a lot.
“He then has to adapt his game and become a little bit more defensive and read the game slightly differently.
“So it is two totally different ends of the spectrum he has been exposed to and I am pretty sure that he will now appreciate having the ball when he plays for the top teams.
“That maybe didn’t happen so much at Norwich. But that’s a brilliant learning curve for him as well.
“He has shown a really high level when he has played for Scotland.
“He has been exceptional and has shown that ability.
“So this season is maybe a little bit of a blip.
“Circumstances – in terms of the team you are playing in – can kill you a little bit as well.
“But he is a top player and if he comes through this little sticky spell then he will come back again.”
McGregor hasn’t had much time to recharge the batteries ahead of next week’s vital World Cup play-off clash after leading Celtic to their first league title under his captaincy.
A five-day Dubai break doesn’t seem a long enough rest for a player picked out by world player union FIFPRO in a report this week cautioning against player burnout.
He’s among 13 players who have played 55 times or more across the last three seasons.
But McGregor has shrugged off concerns about tired legs, revealing his secret to eternal youth is success on the pitch.
“I thought my numbers would be high - but it just shows that you’re doing something right,” he grinned.
“You’re playing a lot of football and getting to play on big stages and big tournaments.
“It’s good for me, I’ve developed and learned a lot over the last five or six years especially.
“I still feel good – so I just want to keep playing.
“You don’t feel tired when you’re winning. It makes you feel good.
“I’m a big believer that when you’re fit and you’re healthy, you just want to keep playing as much as you can.
“Some day someone will take it away from you – and you’ll wish you had another game.
“Obviously, there are times when you are tired. But you just push through that and you come again with the mental strength.
“I love football. For me it’s not a chore, it’s something I love to do.”
