If you told us at the beginning of the season Celtic would sell Josip Juranovic in January but the team wouldn’t skip a beat, we’d have been highly sceptical. But that’s the reality as Celtic head into the business end of the season.
Alistair Johnston has come into Celtic and integrated seamlessly not just into the starting XI but also into the dressing room and the city. The chatty Canadian has come in, and is undefeated after playing at the likes of Ibrox, Hampden and Tynecastle – winning a league title medal in the process.
While the credit goes to Alistair for taking everything in his stride, the club set him up for success in the manner they brought the defender to the club.
Signing him well before Josip went out the door, and allowing Alistair to train with the team for almost a month before he played his first game for the club was the catalyst for this great start.
For years, Celtic have been reactive in the transfer window. In the case of Juranovic’s Celtic exit, we were proactive and it’s paid off in a huge way.
You need to scout and sign the right player and give them that little bit of time to settle and that’s why Johnston was perfect.
Speaking to a Canadian TV station and cited by the Daily Record the Celtic star talks about his start at the club and the whirlwind nature of being a Celtic player: “These past couple of months have just been INSANITY!
“I had a week off after the World Cup, went to Glasgow, met the guys and before you know it you are thrown into an Old Firm match at Ibrox – the home of our most hated rivals.
“So, that was pretty special, but at the same time it was really cool that my manager pulled me aside the day before and told me that I had just played in the World Cup and I was more than ready for this.
He told me it wouldn’t faze me and these are the types of games that you live for – the atmosphere, going through the tunnel, that passion.
“Even the night before there were fans lined up outside our hotel all night long and cheering us as we drove off in the morning, too. I could just sense that it was something bigger than football. I remember looking around and saying, ‘right, this is Scottish football, here we go’.”
“I have gone from a league like the MLS which is driven by parity – they want all the teams to be as close as possible so everyone thinks they have a chance of winning the MLS Cup.
“Then you go to a league like this where it’s been dominated by Celtic and to a degree Rangers, as well. And also you share a city with your biggest rivals.
“In Montreal, I could walk through the city, But here, even before I had kicked a ball, I would go downtown and grab a few things and have a cap pulled down low and a sweater on and I still got people coming up to me on the street saying to me: ‘Welcome to the biggest club in the world’.”
Johnston added: “It was then I started to realise: ‘Okay, this is going to be a little bit different than anything I have ever experienced!’
“The thing that stands out to me in Scotland is how nice the people are.
“They are really welcoming, good people, although they are always complaining about the weather.
“I’m like: ‘Guys it’s 8 degrees, it’s not that bad!’ Whenever someone is complaining about the weather I just tell them what it’s like in Montreal.”
Alistair is one of the most likeable guys you could probably ever meet, but on the pitch he has that edge – it’s like two different people!
The defender is on course to grab a league winners medal too if Celtic can keep up their form between now and the end of the season. With another trip to Hampden on the horizon for the bhoys, AJ could go from having no medals to three in just half a season.
Someone might wanna have a word with AJ and just let him know that it’s called the Glasgow Derby because the game he has referred to has been rotting in the grave for over a decade.
This guy is going to be the best right back we have had at the club since a certain Danny McGrain.