The right-back has sent a message to the Premier League’s chasers ahead of next season.
Alistair Johnston has cautioned that Brendan Rodgers, a serial champion, will make Celtic even stronger in his second season back in Scotland.
The Hoops ace is celebrating a sensational season finale in which the Parkhead men stormed to a Premiership and Scottish Cup double. However, Johnston is confident that the club will achieve much more next season now that the manager is completely back in business. The Canadian star arrived in Glasgow midway through Ange Postecoglou’s second season, and he could see the team improving after some early challenges in his first season.
Johnston believes it will be the same for Rodgers, who overcame various challenges on his return to the club before sprinting to the finish line in dramatic style. The 25-year-old explained, “He is a serial winner. I’ve never seen how he handles the press or his players before. He’s quite friendly.
Johnston believes it will be the same for Rodgers, who overcame various challenges on his return to the club before sprinting to the finish line in dramatic style. The 25-year-old explained, “He is a serial winner. I’ve never seen how he handles the press or his players before. He’s quite friendly.
“You saw it in the first season under Ange. It was a bit stop-start and then in the second year, all of a sudden, it was flying. I have a feeling that is kind of the plan for us as well.”
Johnston recognised that the campaign was not without its challenges, but the club knows how to win, and exciting days lie ahead both domestically and in the new-look Champions League. He asked, “Was it an interesting season?” Definitely. It’s not even remotely linear. It’s been a little up and down. I suppose you could call them injuries, runs of form, or runs of out of form.
“But, at the end of the day, again, we came into the last couple of months of the season where we were still competing for two trophies and it was in our hands. That is something that with this football club, whenever we are living and breathing and still alive in a competition, we are dangerous.
“We have an experience, just the number of trophies some of these guys, Cal, Jamesy, Joe, have won, you are never really out of it. Obviously, when you get a new manager, there is a bit of a bedding-in period and it takes time. Obviously, injuries didn’t help and things along those lines.
“But we are pretty excited with our group and where we can take this. It is going to come down to a really strong pre-season going into, hopefully, a really strong Champions League campaign in a new format, so that’s exciting as well. Of course, you want to be pushing on all fronts, so we are excited for that.”