ALISTAIR JOHNSTON has won five honours in his year and a half at Celtic.
The Canadian World Cup right-back hoovered up a domestic treble in quickfire fashion after arriving in a £3.5million switch from MLS outfit CF Montreal in January last year.
And the tenacious defender enjoyed second successive triumphs in the Premiership and the Scottish Cup this season after missing out in the League Cup earlier in the campaign.
As he basks in the afterglow of the weekend Hampden victory over Philippe Clement’s Ibrox side, Johnston has a warning for the Hoops’ rivals: The best is yet to come.
SUPPORT ACT…Brendan Rodgers backs Alistair Johnston.
The 25-year-old international is convinced Brendan Rodgers will build on this term’s success to take the champions to another level.
Johnston said: “He is a serial winner. How he handles the press, how he handles his players, it’s something I have never seen before. He’s so personable.
“He just truly gets it. I think he really understands what it means to be a Celtic manager and I have enjoyed every moment playing for him.
“I have been lucky in my time here. I’ve had Ange Postecoglou and obviously now Brendan and they’ve both been really special in their own ways.
“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.”
TREBLE YELL…Alistair Johnston shouts for joy after setting up Daizen Maeda for Celtic’s second goal in their 5-0 romp at Kilmarnock that sealed the third successive title.
Johnston, speaking to the Daily Record, reflected: “Was it an interesting season? Definitely. It’s not linear in any stretch of the imagination.
“It’s been a bit up and down. Injuries, runs of form, runs of out of form, I guess you could say.
“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.
CELTIC VIEW…Alistair Johnston strikes an interesting pose after the Scottish Cup Final triumph.
“Obviously, when you get a new manager, there is a bit of a bedding-in period and it takes time. Injuries and things along those lines didn’t help.”
The energetic back-four performer added: “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.”
Brendan Rodgers a serial winner? Alistair Johnston’s not doing too badly himself!
