It’s time to start again and put more trophies in the Celtic cabinet.
Celtic’s Scottish Cup final loss to Aberdeen took the shine off things because it was the final game of a gruelling 2024/25 campaign.
But nobody can take away from Brendan Rodgers delivering another trophy-winning season for Scotland’s most successful club.
Quite a number of players have returned to pre-season already, which includes Celtic having to qualify for the 2025/26 Champions League campaign, on top of defending their main crown.
One man seen at Lennoxtown being put through his paces is Luke McCowan, and an interesting campaign awaits the boyhood fan.
Luke McCowan at Celtic next season
McCowan joined Celtic from Dundee last summer on transfer deadline day, and the man who coached him is delighted by his progress.
Tony Docherty helped McCowan progress, and he thinks things could yet get better for the 27-year-old after people saw ‘how good a player he is’.
Speaking to the Daily Record, Docherty thinks McCowan will ‘get better’ and now he realises that he is a ‘big player’ under Rodgers.
“When he got his move to Celtic, I knew how successful he would be,” stated Docherty. “It’s rewarding to see him involved at that level, playing in Champions League nights and all that kind of stuff.
“He’s got a big season coming up now, and he’s got to improve. I think he did that last year. A lot of people have seen how good a player he is.
“For me, he’ll get better this year, because he’s now got experience behind him of playing at Celtic, something that he wanted to do when he was a kid. He’s now done it, but he now realises he’s a big player there, so he’s got to contribute like he did last year.
“I’ve got to say, he’s working with an absolutely brilliant manager as well on a day-to-day basis. Brendan Rodgers and his coaching staff will get even more out of him.”
McCowan’s debut campaign in numbers
There were more appearances off the bench than starts for McCowan, but that’s understandable given who is ahead of him in the midfield pecking order.
Nobody is going to dethrone captain Callum McGregor or a player of Reo Hatate’s calibre, and then you have Celtic paying a club-record transfer for Arne Engels, so he is going to get more favourable picks.
Either way, McCowan should be very happy with what he produced, and it’s going to be exciting to see what’s coming up next.
- Games: 36
- Starts: 13
- Minutes: 1,540
- Goals: 6
- Assists: 5
- Man of the Match awards: 1
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