The Celtic full-back is thrilled to link up again with his former manager as he offered a word of warning
Alistair Johnston has given advice to Wilfried Nancy
Celtic star Alistair Johnston has predicted new manager Wilfried Nancy will get the Hoops playing ‘beautiful football’ but admits winning comes first.
The French boss got off to a disappointing start as Premiership leaders Hearts won 2-1 at Parkhead. Johnston worked with Nancy, who was manager at Montreal, before he won his big move to Glasgow two years ago.
He’s thrilled to link up again with his former manager, but warned him winning is everything at Celtic. Johnston said: “I am excited to have him here. The biggest thing for him is that it is different in the MLS – you don’t get nearly as much time over here. At big clubs like Celtic, he knows very well that yes, you want to implement your ideas, but you need to win as well.
“Hopefully, we will be able to do a lot of winning and also play some beautiful football because that’s what Wilfried’s system is all about. I hope we can do that and keep our end of the bargain too. It wasn’t something I expected after Brendan Rodgers resigned – that was a massive whirlwind. I had never really been in a club situation where the manager left under those circumstances, especially mid-season.
“It took a bit longer to find a replacement. We had Martin O’Neill come back and we all know what a legend he is, not just at Celtic, but across the UK. He is just an unbelievable man. He did a great job for about five weeks.
“Then it was all about who would be the new manager and I heard some rumblings behind the scenes. I am obviously still close with people in Montreal, so I sent some messages over to ask what was happening and before I knew it, it actually happened.
“It’s odd for me because he’s an old manager of mine and now he is the new manager. I have a great relationship with him and I definitely enjoy his football, especially as playing under him got me a move to Celtic.
“So it worked out pretty well for me and hopefully we can replicate that. Now I have to get my French back from the closet – I hope he’s been practising Scottish because it’s a completely different language from English!”
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And the Canadian international full back, in an interview with homeland TV, has revealed he will be ready to go for the second half of the season after his hamstring surgery.
Johnston suffered a nightmare campaign because of injuries and eventually had to go under the knife.But he’s on the road to recovery and is desperate to get back to full fitness and be in peak condition for when his country host the World Cup.
He said: “I’m doing well. I had to get surgery, but I am feeling much better now and hopefully, that will clear up any potential re-injury and I will be ready to go for the second half of the season And then have a good lead-up to the World Cup. That’s the plan. It’s not the best draw, it’s not the worst draw.
“There are some difficult teams there. Switzerland have a number of players at a really high level. We are confident and have put together some really good performances. We feel we can keep clean sheets against top teams and feel we can go toe-to-toe with anyone. It’s important we make the most of our home crowd. It will be an unbelievable experience.
The crowd will be frantically and over-the-top excited for Canada. And if we were to play Italy in Toronto, it would be the biggest event in Canadian sporting history.I would have loved to have played Scotland too, but knowing what Kasper Schmeichel went through when Denmark played Scotland, I’m not sure I could have put up with six months of that!”