“That’s part of the Celtic DNA. You come here to win trophies,” Alistair Johnston

Alistair Johnston gave an insight into his experience of coming into a club like Celtic and how the passion and intensity from the Celtic support is all consuming and unlike anything else he’s experienced in football…

“It’s not normal,” the Canadian defender said yesterday while speaking to the written press, including Daily Record, at Lennoxtown. “Yeah and that’s one of the beauties of it up here as well. It’s something that’s bigger than just football, it really is. It takes over people’s entire lives, for good and bad in some ways. But, as a player, you’ve got to respect the passion and the intensity that people support their clubs with.”

“It’s not something that is normal around the world”

Alistair Johnston continued: “It’s not something that is normal around the world and you can really only understand when you’ve played in a different league or if Scottish fans go abroad and see how other people do it. This isn’t normal – people are so invested – and you’ve got to respect that. You’ve got to understand it and learn to live with it.”

Results of course play a part in this and we can all appreciate the difference in our mood swings depending on results, more than performances.  “It’s great when you’re winning, I’ll tell you that,” Alistair Johnston said. “And that’s another massive reason why you want to play for a club like this. It’s such a massive draw to know that when you go out there every single match is meaningful.

‘It doesn’t matter what the match is. There’s going to be 60,000 people at Celtic Park’

“It doesn’t matter what the match is. There’s going to be 60,000 people at Celtic Park and millions watching around the world, cheering you on and pulling for you. If it’s the opening round of a cup and you’re playing against a Championship team or if you’re playing in the Champions League, you can feel the passion in the support.

“That means the world to a player because it feels like what you are doing matters. You always want your work to feel like it matters, no matter what industry you are in or what you do. You want to feel like you’re doing something that’s meaningful and lasting.

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