WHEN it comes to a big footballing derby match, the whole rambunctious affair tends to take on the military might of the D-Day landings. Tactics here, battleplans there, the deployment of infantry everywhere?

It helps to have plenty of weapons in the armoury and in Callum McGregor, Celtic seem to have a player who possesses the handy, multi-tasking qualities you would get with a Swiss Army knife.

Brendan Rodgers is well aware of the talent he has at his disposal and, ahead of Saturday’s end-of-year showdown with old foes Rangers, the Celtic manager pored over McGregor’s abundant attributes.

“He’s got an incredible football brain,” said Rodgers of this valued and versatile component of the Celtic machine. “He can play in every position. He can play as a full-back, he’s played in midfield, he’s played off one of the sides, he’s played as a No 10, he’s played in all three positions in midfield. That type of player is priceless for me because of all the tactical innovations we try to play and impose on the group. I know wherever he is playing, he can play it.

“That type of player, a player who can pass without complicating things, that’s the most difficult part of the game, to play simple football. I’ve worked with players who played with ruthless simplicity like Leon Britton [at Swansea]. He could only pass it over 15 to 20 yards. But he ticked the game over. He wasn’t big, he was 5’ 4”, but he was a big player on the pitch.

“I also had Emre Can at Liverpool who could play at centre-half, right-back or midfield. He had a brain.

“Callum has that too. That’s the joy of working with him. He never misses a day of training, he never complains. I think people are a lot more appreciative of him now. The number of people now who will come to me now and say ‘bloody hell, that McGregor is a good player’.”

Rangers fans, meanwhile, may be saying “bloody hell, there’s that McGregor again”. The 24-year-old was a thorn in the side of Celtic’s rivals last season and scored in the 2-0 Scottish Cup semi-final win over Rangers before adding another on league duty a week later as Rodgers’ side ran riot at Ibrox in a 5-1 rout.

It has not always been plain-sailing for McGregor against Rangers, of course. The previous season he came on as a sub in the Scottish Cup semi-final which Celtic would lose on penalties.

“When you lose games like that it’s sore to take,” McGregor reflected. “When you go into the next one you remember the way you felt, and realise you don’t want to go through it again. It’s the only one we’ve lost to Rangers since. You harness that feeling and use it to do better.”

In the final game of 2016, Celtic beat Rangers 2-1 and McGregor is keen for 2017 to end with a similar flourish.

“That was a big win and it set us up with the belief we could really kick on,” he said. “It’s the same scenario this year. No matter how well we’ve done this far, to finish it on a high before the break would be great.”

Celtic’s unbeaten domestic run is now a thing of the past. Last weekend’s 4-0 defeat to Hearts was the equivalent of pressing the Ctrl, Alt, Del keys on a laptop and re-booting the system.

“It gives you the chance to be better,” said Rodgers of that defeat while saying that at least the end of the 69 game run was not down to one jammy goal or an individual error. “We were collectively hopeless,” he said with a smile. “I always think it’s how you are defined really, in disappointment. Do you go again and look to improve? It’s what life is about and not just football life. The 69-game run, four trophies as Invincibles? I said to the players, ‘it’s a great start’. But now it’s gone, your name is now carved in history, probably forever. What we have seen is something truly remarkable. If it was so easy it would have been done a long-time before. You look at Rangers as an example. Going down the leagues, coming through the Third Division, Second Division, First Division. If it was so easy, it would have been done then.”