The Celtic captain has been named alongside fellow teammates Daizen Maeda and Nicolas Kuhn for the main award, with the winner set to be announced on May 4 at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow.
Expressing delight over his own nomination, the skipper admitted to Sky Sports that he is keen to win at Ibrox, after suffering two successive derby defeats to Rangers so far this year. “Yeah, of course,” answered McGregor when asked if he wants to “put things right” against their rivals this weekend.
“I think when you lose any derby game, then the next one you want to win, and that was the same obviously going into the game in Celtic Park, but we never quite worked it that way. Circumstances occurred at the end of the game, and they carried a bit of luck.
“So yeah, we have to try and put it right, but obviously, we understand it’s a difficult away game. However, we are in a good momentum, we are in good form, and we go into the game full of that.
“We want to put it right, as we have lost the last two, and we want to win this one.”
McGregor also couldn’t resist taking a thinly-veiled swipe at Rangers icon Barry Ferguson, who had earlier claimed Celtic were ‘rattled’ ahead of the derby. The Hoops captain insisted his side were calm, focused, and had the experience to handle the pressure, brushing off Ferguson’s remarks as ‘noise from outside’ that wouldn’t affect their preparations.
The captain also announced who he voted for concerning his own Player of the Year, as the awards are decided by fellow players who have played against each other throughout the domestic season.
Luckily for McGregor, his nominee was also shortlisted – the only non-Celtic player to be nominated. “I voted for Simon Murray, actually,” said Celtic’s number 42.
“I think he’s been outstanding. Obviously, we can’t vote for ourselves, which, if that were the case, then I would have voted for one of our guys, but Simon’s been amazing. He has scored so many goals and been a big player, and then when he has played against us as well, he has given us a real difficult time, so he got my vote.”
On Celtic’s recent turnaround of form, McGregor continued: “I think since the manager had a pop with the players a couple of weeks ago, the response has been amazing. He sees these things coming as well, so he’s had a little poke, and the players have reacted really well.
“We have got four really important league games to go, we spoke about it leading into the Dundee United game that every game is important.
“We want to finish strong, we want to try and get maximum wins, and obviously Sunday being the next game that’s available for that.”
