Former Celtic star admits frustrations after 2024 Hoops exit as he aims to fire ex Parkhead gaffer to glory

A former Celtic star admits he hasn’t had it all his own way after leaving Parkhead earlier this season.

Mikey Johnston came through the ranks at Parkhead but while he did get a crack in Hoops, it wasn’t consistent enough to make himself a mainstay. He left at the start of the season following an impressive loan at West Brom last campaign, having made 93 Celtic appearances overall.

This term, Johnston has netted just three times in the English Championship but does also have five assists. He netted the winner in a key 2-1 weekend win against Watford that keeps the side managed by former Celtic manager Tony Mowbray in the hunt for the promotion play-offs that could book a ticket back to the Premier League. They are seventh and two points off that frontier of sixth.

Post Celtic frustrations

Johnston now wants to be the man who can fire Mowbray to glory after admitting frustrations over how his campaign has gone. He told club media: “It’s a massive three points for us. We knew coming into it that we needed to win. We know we definitely need to win the next few games too. We showed a lot of character and we should’ve scored a lot more goals and put the game to bed a lot earlier.

“I feel like we’ve been hard done by in the last few weeks to be honest. There have been games that have been going in our favour or in the balance and we’ve gone on to lose them That’s down to not scoring goals. We created a lot of chances. We need to keep doing that going forward. It was a nice moment for me to score, but the main emotion I felt was probably relief.

“I feel like I’m doing the right things in training every single day and I know I’m a good finisher. I know if I keep arriving in the right areas I’m going to score goals. I could’ve had a few more. I think I was unlucky with the one Alex Mowatt touched to me – I think the boy cleared it off the line. Again, I feel like I’m trying to do the right things and create chances too. On another day, maybe, I could’ve had more, but I’m just happy to get the goal.

“It’s easy playing with Tom when he’s in those sorts of areas because he’s predictable. I know where to go and I know he’ll find me. Tom’s great to play with. We’ve got four massive games to go now and we know we need to pick up as many points as possible.”

Playing on speed

Mowbray admits Johnston’s pace is something he often looks to deploy. He told Irish News: “Having to deal with the three results that came in the last 10 days and I’ve said repeatedly, I think the performance level of those games were really high and could easily have won all of them games. Yet we find ourselves winning a game with 39 per cent possession.

“It’s not how I really want to play, but it opens the question to letting the opposition have more of the ball and played in the species that they leave as they come on to you. We could have scored more than we did. I think we had five big chances. I think when you’ve got the speed of Fellows, Grant and Mikey Johnson, sometimes maybe [it is better] to let the opposition have the ball.”