Celtic's Jonjoe Kenny relishes the rawness of "physical" and "up and down" Scottish game

The bruising, frenetic nature of the Scottish game can leave many new arrivals checking their contracts.

Solid full-back Jonjoe Kenny is "loving every minute" of his Celtic loan spell in the hurly burly of Scottish football. Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)

Not so Jonjoe Kenny. The uncompromising style the 23-year-old has encountered in the past fortnight has merely had the right-back delighting in the six-month loan deal he signed on deadline day to swap Everton for Celtic.

Kenny heads to Perth with Neil Lennon’s men for today’s confrontation with St Johnstone looking to bag a fourth straight win in his new colours - for a club that had only won once in their six games prior to his pitching up at Parkhead. For a terrier of a performer, Scottish football has held no terrors.

“It is pretty physical, up and down, and I have loved every minute of it. I enjoy that part of the game, being physical and making challenges,” Kenny said. “The team’s performances have been good. It’s now about carrying it on and enjoying it.”

There is little enjoyment to be derived for many of a Celtic disposition from a title campaign destined to fall well short with a record 10th title the obsessed-over target. Rangers’ 21-point lead - having played two games more than their adversaries - will result in a power shift no-one anticipated. Yet, Kenny says the remainder of the Premiership campaign isn’t about his temporary team proving they are a better team than they have shown in this ghastly campaign. A crisis-fest for so long, that has brought a disconnect between the club and a support that have consistently demanded the removal of Neil Lennon and the board’s powerbrokers.

“I don’t think Celtic need to prove anything,” he said. “They’ve won nine league titles, nine in a row, trebles. There’s a big fuss going round, but what can you expect? You’re making a big deal out of one season. It wasn’t even one season, it was six months, but I think for us as a team, to the fans for the support they give to the team, we want to go out and prove to ourselves just how good we are and try and give everyone a little bit of a buzz. We want to finish on a little bit of a high and that’s all we can really do right now.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.