Former Celtic defender Jonjoe Kenny has opened up on his disappointing loan spell in Glasgow during the second part of last season.
On the final day of the January window last year, the Everton full-back completed a loan move to Parkhead for the second half of the campaign, which ended up being an extremely disappointing period for the 24-year old with his and the side’s performances.
Having returned to Goodison Park and the arrival of new boss Frank Lampard, the right-back has now found himself a place in the side, playing his part in the 3-0 win over Leeds United on Saturday, which is an incredible turnaround in comparison to last year.
Speaking to Everton TV in the aftermath of that game, Kenny stated that his time with the Hoops was a ‘difficult period’, and he is now looking to change his fortunes with regular game time in the English Premier League.
“I knew my chance was going to come, just not when it would come, and wanted to make sure I was ready,” he said, as quoted by Football Scotland.
“I made everything down to me, changed what I needed to and tried to get rid of excuses, which is difficult. I didn’t want to be giving the excuse that I wasn’t ready or didn’t take my opportunity.
“Celtic was a difficult period for me, off the pitch, especially.
“But having close family and friends and my agent and good mentors around me, and choosing that path and having these people who can really help me progress, changed a lot of things for me mentally.
“I have had a lot of ups and downs, but it is about staying at it and doing what I need and focusing on me.”
Given the performances of many in the team last campaign, many fans will likely be surprised to see the full-back playing his football in the Premier League. But, fair play to Kenny for his impressive turnaround.
It has been the same for a few players, with Shane Duffy making a good start to the season down south with Brighton, showing why the Scottish Premiership shouldn’t be disrespected by those who don’t have a clue about the game.
Clearly, last season is something fans, and Jonjoe Kenny alike would rather move on and forget about, with both parties now enjoying their football considerably more at this moment in time.
In fairness to Jonjoe Kenny we could’ve brought anyone into that team last season and they’d have struggled. We were a shambles on and off the park and that’s not the player’s fault. The simple truth is we got complacent, the board, the manager, the players and us the supporters we all thought that ten was in the bag. There’s not one of us who thought that we weren’t going to win the ten in a row. Right through to eight I kept saying we haven’t won it yet, then we won the nine and even I got complacent. Surely it was in the 🎒 I got carried away, we all thought we just had to turn up and we forgot to put the hard work in that wins you titles. Having said that though the amount of players who come up here from England and fail is proof our league, like you say in your piece, is better than the English think. It could be so much better though if we got rid of the current incumbents at the SFA and SPFL who’s pandering to the blue side of Glasgow is stifling if not killing the game. The whole system at the sixth floor at Hampden needs gutted from top to bottom. I believe that until that happens our game will never be looked upon as anything other than a farmers league down south. None of our clubs do anything in Europe now apart from the Glasgow clubs who have one good season every five or ten years which simply isn’t good enough and our National team has reached one major finals in 32 years isn’t any better. If the clubs don’t push for change then the fans should, look at the inept referees that are foisted upon clubs. Every club complains but does nothing to change or improve the game and someone has to start the ball rolling why not the supporters, who let’s face it are the game, the clubs are nothing without us so why can’t we make the difference?