Gary Locke has been speaking about Celtic ahead of his side Hearts facing the champions on Sunday.
The former Jambos midfielder and manager has been working at Tynecastle in an ambassadorial role for several years now.
The 50-year-old made 101 appearances for his boyhood club, before taking the reins as the club’s boss between 2013 and 2014.
He knows all about Celtic and Rangers’ domination of Scottish football over the last few decades, but feels the tide could be turning this season.
Locke ‘fed up’ seeing Celtic win trophies all the time
Locke has watched current Hearts boss Derek McInnes win seven of their first eight Scottish Premiership games this season.
It has them top of the league by five points, with Celtic sitting just behind ahead of Sunday’s huge clash between the two sides.
Celtic have dropped points in three league games this season already and Locke thinks that is refreshing for the game in Scotland.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  Heart Of MidlothianHeart Of Midlothian | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 6 | 13 | 22 |
| 2 |  CelticCeltic | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 17 |
He’s sick of seeing Celtic winning trophy after trophy, but feels the league will be tighter this season due to the Hoops’ poor start.
Locke told The Scottish Sun: “It’s great for Scottish football that Hibs, Aberdeen, Dundee United, Dundee are starting to take points off the Old Firm.
“I think we all get fed up of just watching Rangers and Celtic winning every week and winning every trophy, and it’s very, very difficult to win a trophy.
“I genuinely feel that there are a lot of teams this year that will hopefully take points off them and make the league a wee bit closer.
“You don’t want to see Celtic and Rangers 25 points clear of everybody else, it’s not great for our game.
“There’s a lot to be positive about in Scottish football, there’s a lot of good young players coming through, and I think teams like ourselves and Hibs and Aberdeen and that, we’re all getting better and getting stronger, and that can only be good for our game.”
But Locke has ‘huge admiration’ for Callum McGregor
Despite hoping Celtic are dragged back into a title dogfight this year, he does have big respect for Bhoys skipper Callum McGregor.
McGregor has been a permanent fixture in the Celtic team for over a decade now and is currently the second most decorated player in the club’s history.
Speaking more broadly on Sunday’s Tynecastle tussle, Locke said: “It’s always a tough game, and Celtic have been champions last 13 or 14 years, so that shows you just how good a team Celtic are.
“I’ve got huge admiration for boys like Callum McGregor, who constantly demand high standards, win trophies, and it doesn’t matter what they do last year, they go again the year after.
“We’re under no illusions how difficult a game this will be, especially after they’ve been beat.
“I’ve always found over my career that when you play the old Firm and they’ve been beat the week before, it’s doubly as difficult to beat them.
“Our boys will know how difficult it is, but we just have to concentrate ourselves, if we keep playing the way we’ve been playing at Tynecastle, then I fully expect us to get a result.”
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