A PLAYER needs to possess many different qualities to be a success at a club like Celtic – having a high level of technical expertise, good physical fitness, a skin as thick as elephant hide and a keen football intelligence are all vital.
Being able to strut about like “a peacock” whenever you take to the field, though, would not seem to be a prerequisite for donning a green and white hooped jersey.
Yet, for Alistair Johnston, the Canadian internationalist who has firmly established himself as the Parkhead club’s first choice right back since signing at the beginning of last year, it is of paramount importance.
Like so many in the Scottish game, Johnston has been impressed with the form which Celtic winger Nicolas Kuhn has shown since the new season got underway earlier this month.
The German, a £3m signing from Rapid Vienna back in January, scored in the defending champions’ emphatic 4-0 win over Kilmarnock in their William Hill Premiership opener nine days ago.
And he broke the deadlock in just the third minute of Celtic’s routine 2-0 triumph over Hibernian in a league outing at Easter Road on Sunday when he tapped in a James Forrest pass.
Johnston, who plays on the same flank as Kuhn, outlined the reasons why his team mate has suddenly grown in stature.
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“He's definitely more comfortable now in his role,” he said. “He's understanding, and he's finding that confidence. We're putting him in a better position to be the player that he is and to understand what we signed him for and what he brings to the game. He's not afraid to show that.
“You can see his directness and his confidence on the ball. He's not just ‘touch and lending’ it. He's now actually driving it, going at people. I tell you what, he's a nightmare to defend because he can go inside, he can burn you on the outside and put it onto his right foot. So he poses some serious threats.
“He's really now picking up on the winger cues in terms of getting in at the back post, reading those kind of moments. He’s really kicked on and I think that will be a big level that he’s going to show this entire year.”
Afterwards, the ex-Ajax and Bayern Munich youth spoke about how the pre-season tour of the United States this summer had created a close bond between the members of Brendan Rodgers’ squad.
Johnston knows how important that togetherness will be at home and abroad in the coming 10 months.
“This is a really good changing room for that,” he said. “Matt's a perfect example of that, he’s one of those guys that is super open and very welcoming. I think we have a lot of guys like that.
“Nick is actually a reasonably quiet person, but he likes to have a good laugh and he's a good lad. He likes to be a part of it. He's got a great little relationship with a couple of guys, Yang [Hyun-jun] as well. It’s funny trying to see them two communicate in their broken English.
“But it's stuff like that that you do like to see and it does make a difference on the pitch. You can see it when one guy scores, they're doing a celebration for the other guy, things like that.
“You can tell there's that camaraderie and desire to play for each other, and that's what you need at a big club like this because there are going to be difficult moments and you need to have that trust and that belief that you can rely on whoever's out there.”
Johnston is an outgoing character who has experienced no difficulty adapting to the rough and tumble of the Scottish game or dealing with the demands there are on him to perform at his best whenever he emerges from the tunnel before kick-off.
He appreciates that Kuhn is more of an introvert than somebody like Kasper Schmeichel – the Danish goalkeeper who was brought in to replace Joe Hart last month – but he has witnessed first hand how the wide man has firmly embraced the pressure that he is under in recent months and is now revelling being in the spotlight.
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“Joe was an unbelievably big personality, both on and off the pitch,” he said. “I was kind of curious to see how they would fill that role, just not only the actual goalkeeper position, but just the void it would be, just the personality, and the presence that he had in the changing room.
“So to bring in someone like Kasper, he's been a perfect fit in that sense. It really goes to show what this club's all about. It's not a club where you can just be a small personality and expect to just go out and play 90 and then go back into the shadows.
“You're in a fish bowl in Glasgow. So you've got to be ready for that. Every single guy that we've brought in, even if they are quiet personalities like Nick, is. I think he's learned over these past six months that he's got to be a peacock a little bit - go out there, be confident.
“When you do that, you're going to play some good football and you're going to be loved here. Kasper's been great for that and has really opened the eyes for a lot of the young guys too.”
“That comes with time and chemistry,” he said. “I was just quite happy with the chance creation. You saw it last week, you saw it in pre-season, you saw it again in the game on Sunday, guys being in the right spots, getting into there, I think that's a good sign for things to come.
“It's a long year, and I think that goals will start to come. It's not really a big worry for us. It was a pretty solid three points and a pretty solid performance. So, yeah, I think the team is in a very confident place coming off that pre-season.
“Everyone got a lot of good minutes in their legs and I think we can really tell that we're kicking on under the manager. It's his second season here and we are in a positive place.
“We're excited for what these next couple of months can bring in terms of the league and the Champions League. It's a great opportunity for us and we need to be firing on all cylinders. It’s a good start for us.”
