Being No 1 makes me smile at all my critics back in Norway

THE snapshot of Stefan Johansen fr a me s a very modern footballer. As energetic in the first minute of a game as he is in the last, it is easy to assume that his talents are very much God-given. That his path to this point has been free of obstacles.

Just four years ago, though, at the tender age of 20, the player had already arrived at the crossroads of his career.

Born in the northern Norwegian city of Vardo, he moved — aged 14 — to the small town of Bodo in the hope of getting his first foot on the professional ladder at local favourites Bodo-Glimt.

In debuting at 17, Johansen felt he was doing all he could to turn his dream into reality. Others were not so sure.

‘Some people talked about my attitude, that I needed to change it,’ he reflected. ‘Some people like to think they know more than they do.’

Sitting at Lennoxtown yesterday with the PFA Scotland Player of the Year award for fresh company, Johansen l ooked every i nch a vindicated man.

Yet, while he undoubtedly enjoyed thumbing his nose at his unnamed detractors of yesteryear, he was man enough to admit that they might just have had a point.

‘I’m just happy that I’m now here at Celtic and doing well,’ he added. ‘The people who said that, they will know it for themselves.

‘I have to be honest, though, my attitude has changed a little bit. I have always had a talent for football. But at the end of my time at Bodo-Glimt, sometimes I was played as a winger and I spoke up and said it wasn’t my position.

‘I got some chances but in the end my contract ran out and I didn’t care too much. In the last year there, I kind of had a bad attitude.’

The moment that changed his life came when Ronny Deila — then manager of little Stromsgodset — placed a call to him.

Deila had already turned Godset from perennial relegation candidates to a side capable of finishing seventh in the Tippeligaen. With Johansen on board, he promised the player there would be no stopping them.

Within two years, Deila’s side finished second. The following season, they became champions for the first time in 43 years. No player had played a more pivotal role than the erstwhile misfit f rom up the road.

‘At the end of my time at BodoGlimt, I felt it was time for me to find a new motivation. I was never thinking about quitting football or anything like that,’ said Johansen.

‘Football has always been the most important thing for me. Even when I went to school, I cared more about the gym than the other classes. Football has always been too important for me to give it up.

‘I knew in the end it was going to go well for me. But I can also be honest and say that when you are younger, some players need to be told what to do. I was a typical example. But the guys who are telling you also need to understand you.

‘When I spoke to Ronny and he wanted me at Stromsgodset, I just felt like I had a new energy.

‘He took me there and believed in where I felt I should play. He believed in me as a better footballer and allowed me to show my skills.

‘He had the same ideas then which he came to Celtic with. It’s about eating right and sleeping right.

‘As a footballer, you have one or two training sessions every day. It’s not like working nine to five in an office. You have to be prepared so that when you are out on the pitch, you are at 100 per cent every time.

‘Train as hard as you can and develop. He also looks at small details in your game. But the most important thing for me under Ronny was becoming a 24-hour athlete.

‘I had to think about everything I did. Not sit on the computer until midnight or whatever. Go to bed at 11pm instead. Those are the typical things I needed to learn.

‘When you are young, you don’t know better. You think having pizza is OK, but it’s not how it works. That’s the reason I can play 60 or 70 games in a season.’

Johansen’s salutary lesson will have a familiar ring to it for many at Lennoxtown. Upon being implemented last summer, Deila’s methods were hardly met with universal approval yet few are grumbling now about small but important matters being mandatory.

The transition in Celtic over the past nine months cannot simply be attributed to a lack of chips and cheeseburgers, though.

Deila’s side have evolved as much as he has. For Johansen, the early weeks of the campaign were a grim experience. Asked to play a holding role beside Scott Brown, the Norwegian looked ill at ease.

His promotion to the No 10 position — t hanks l argely to t he emergence of Nir Bitton — is the prime reason his peers voted him the best in the land in their profession.

‘I’ve moved a little bit,’ he said. ‘I started the season more as a deep- l ying midfielder but then I got the chance as a No 10. I’ve worked on my role there. In that position, you have to score goals.

‘I didn’t score as many goals earlier in my career. Those are the things I’ve been working on.

‘ The beginning of the season was tough. You need to bounce back as a team and as a player. That shows your mentality. The whole team did that.’

It now seems that if Johansen never played the holding role for his club again, it would be too soon. ‘I think it suits me better,’ he said of playing further up the field. ‘ It’s always difficult to say s o mething else when it goes well.

‘Broony played a lot when I came last year but Nir, as well, has impressed me so much this season. ‘ The way t hey control the game is so i mportant for us. It makes my job much easier. If you find the pockets up there, you know they will find you.’

Having been voted player of the year in Norway prior to his move to Glasgow 18 months ago, Johansen is routinely collecting reminders of how far he has come since those late, dark days at Bodo-Glimt.

Don’t think for a minute that he won’t have enjoyed news of his latest accolade filtering through to his critics of yesteryear.

‘ Yes — but I don’t want to mention names,’ he smiled.

‘There were a couple of them but there is no point in me sitting here and saying the names now. They know what they were thinking. I don’t care about that. I knew in the end if I worked hard, I would do well in football. They know it themselves.

‘I’m very proud of the award. This is my first full season at Celtic and to win it, I’m very grateful.

‘You can see the quality players we have at Celtic and also the other players in the league.

‘As a person, I don’t get satisfied right in the moment. Once the season is over and I go on holiday with my missus, and I sit and think back on the season, then I will understand how big it is.’