Celtic's 'main secret' for Johnston's goalscoring form

First of all congratulations on your new deal. Just talk to us a bit about the emotions, the excitement of signing on the dotted line and the sort of driving factors as to why you wanted to stay in Glasgow that bit longer. 

Yeah, I was ecstatic when they brought up the idea of extending my contract. It was something that I hadn't really been thinking too much about because I still had over three years left on my deal. I was kind of just focused on my football, helping the team win and just performing at my best and it started well this year. When the club brought it up to me and my agent, it was something that I was excited by. To think that still with three years left, they were still thinking of this as extending me as one of the priorities. It was big for me because it showed that they value me and they believe I'm an important part of this team. In terms of reasons to sign for me, it was simple. Again, playing for this club is special. Walking out and playing in front of 60,000, some of the atmospheres and matches that I've already been a part of in just my short two years here have been unbelievable even in just the past couple of weeks. You just think back to the Leipzig match, matches like that. It's everything you want as a footballer, so I enjoyed that. And again, since Brendan's come in, I think he's elevated me to another level altogether. He's put a lot of trust in me, the whole coaching staff has and they have empowered me to not only be a leader but also to be an attacking full-back and really just kind of dictate the play with my physicality and everything. It's something that I've really enjoyed and I've felt that I've grown as a player. And I'm entering the prime years, some would say, of a footballer's career. So no, it's exactly where I want to be to have my prime years and continue to grow and see what I can become.

In terms of that growth, to what extent for you is there something special brewing here? You mentioned what Brendan had done to just lift everything it seems around the club. Was that part of the buy-in as well, that there was something special happening at this club at the moment? 

Yeah, again, I've only been here two years, and since I walked in the door, it felt pretty special. We walked right into pretty much a treble-winning side, so instantly when I walked in, I realised, okay, you know what, we've got a talented group here, and obviously, things have changed management-wise. Some players have left, some players have come in, and I think now in the second year under Brendan, we're really kind of understanding exactly what he wants. I think you can see that we've hit stride. And we're in a really good place, mentally and physically, myself included. So, I've really enjoyed this year in terms of playing with Nick (Kuhn) on the right wing. I think that we've built a really good connection. I've always loved playing beside CCV and whoever it is there, whenever he's out with his multitude of injuries, the old man. So I've really enjoyed that kind of aspect of building those relationships. And I think after two years, you really kind of understand and really start to feel what your role in the team is and what your place in just the squad is in general, both on and off the pitch, and I've really enjoyed my role. And all of the leaders in the team have been very good at pushing me and helping me be a big part of this changing room. That's something that I don't overestimate or overthink. This is Celtic Football Club, one of the premier football clubs in the world. I'm someone that they count on, that the fans count on, and the team counts on. So, I think that that's pretty special to me. Again, it made it easy to sign the dotted line when it was there. 

Just going into the leadership side of things, there's something a lot of fans have been talking about recently. Do you see yourself as a future captain of Celtic?

That's not a decision for me to make. We've got a great leader in Cal, thankfully, and he might still have longer than me on his contract now even after I've signed my new deal, but he'll be here forever. So no, I'm not really too focused on that kind of stuff. I'm just here to help Cal and the other leadership, the older guys, in any way possible. I probably talk too much to be a captain anyway. Trying to keep that huddle the one time I was captain short was one of the most difficult things I've ever done. So no, I'm not too focused on that again. I'm just trying to help out in any way possible. And if I can take a little bit off Cal's plate, I gladly will.

Just on your form this season, has there been a secret behind the number of goals in such a game? 

Nicholas Kuhn, I think he would be probably the main secret. He's been so good for me. I think as a full-back, especially, once you find that rhythm and that chemistry with a player, it can make the world of a difference for a fullback. Again, when I came in the door, it was mainly Jota or Abada that I was playing with. Then last year was a bit more of a carousel, I guess you could say, with who was playing in front of me. As a fullback, I take a lot of responsibility in that is that I want to get my winger going. I think that I potentially struggled a little bit with that. And in turn, it didn't help them out. This year, I think Nick's kind of grabbed that position by the scruff of the neck. He's been so helpful for me just because of the threat he poses on the ball, and his directness with his play as well. But then also understanding that I'm going to support him with runs, whether it's underlapping, or overlapping. He does a really good job of using me when I'm there to be used. So, I think that that's been a relationship that's been, you know, drilled through. Now that we've played for nearly a year together, I think that you were really kind of hitting stride. So I think that's been like the main recipe for success for me.

What would you say is your next target of developing as a player or something like that, just to keep improving? Do you do that? Do you kind of focus on one thing that I'm going to focus on as I get better at this?

Yeah, I mean, every year I put out some self-goals to myself of what I want to improve on. And, you know, talking to the coaching staff, we kind of pick an area that I think that I can, you know, work on and not only with the club, but also my national team, what they think I can do better. So this year was definitely about how can I use my, you know, my physical traits to be more effective in terms of getting into the box and when I'm in there, why not? Why not get more assists? Why not score goals? You know, get into these dangerous positions and see what happens. So that was something that I put a lot of extra added emphasis on, I'd say, this year. And then in terms of what I want in the future, I mean if I can keep this goal-scoring run going, I think it would be pretty great. But now I just continue to put myself in good positions and doing my work early, that's something that me and John Kennedy talk about a lot, is that oftentimes I'll sometimes try to rely on my physicality a little bit too much instead of just doing the early work first. Sometimes you can get away with that domestically, but at the highest level, which is, you know, what I want to be playing at, the Champions League match and things like that. If you just go off of it for half a second or you're one step late, these teams will punish you. So that's been something that, you know, we've really been focusing on and making sure. And he's very quick to point out in videos when he thinks I'm coasting or, you know, not respecting the opponent to the fullest. So, no, that's something that's kind of my next step. When I do that, that means that I'm playing with, you know, 100% focus, 100% intensity in every match. I feel like I can be a pretty, you know, difficult player to play against. 

There are a lot of games on the horizon and the manager described it as an ultra marathon. Is that something you're relishing? 

Yeah, it's definitely an ultra marathon. It's an Iron Man, it's whatever you want to call it. We have a squad that's deep enough and is built with this in mind. You know, the whole plan was when you play for this club is that you're going to be competing on all fronts, whether it's in Europe, domestically, or our domestic cup competitions as well. You know, every single trophy that we enter, every single tournament, we're expected to win domestically and go far in Europe. Again, it's been a great start so far in the Champions League. But with that, ideally, will come more matches. You know, obviously, the league phase is eight instead of six from last year. Ideally, we manage to get out of the group, the league phase and that'll add more matches, more massive matches here at Celtic Park as well, which is something that we relish. So again, it's one of those ones. It's really about play, recover, play, recover, and getting into that rhythm. I think it'll be nice now that there won't be an international window for a couple of months. So it'll really let us kind of get into a rhythm of just being here at the club. It's been so stop-start this first couple of months with the three international windows. So I think that this is a great opportunity for us to really just get into that rhythm and go strong through this Christmas period because you're right, it gets bunged up with fixtures and you need your whole squad in fine form to be able to get through it. 

Do you think Glasgow now feels like home for you and your family? 

Yeah, definitely. Glasgow, we've embraced it. We've embraced the weather. Funny, I was back in Toronto for the international window and I was checking the weather. The fiancé kept sending me photos of the dog and there was snow and frost on the ground. I'm like, we don't even have this in Canada right now. So yeah, we've definitely embraced it. The people have been great. The fans are amazing. I don't think anyone needs to hear that again. Everyone knows how good of a fanbase and what support we have here. So yeah, I've really enjoyed every moment that I've been here. My family have enjoyed it whenever they've come over. And yeah, it's a special, special place. I'm looking forward to the next five years here. 

You were speaking about Roger Federer recently. I believe it was former footballer Diego Forlan who played his first professional tennis match recently since he retired. Do you see yourself doing that? 

I saw some clips of Forlan. He is much, much better than me. So I don't think I'll be following in his footsteps. I'll be more the men's over 35, maybe mixed doubles with my fiancé at some point. Hopefully, she'll be carrying me to titles at that point. But yeah, no, I don't think I have that in my locker just yet. I need to work on my service a bit more.