adminMartin O’Neill has stood by his decision to hand Sam Johnstone his Old Firm debut.
The Celtic manager came under scrutiny after choosing the Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee ahead of Viljami Sinisalo for Sunday’s 3-0 loss to Rangers at Ibrox.
Johnstone endured a difficult afternoon but O’Neill believes the experience will ultimately prove valuable for the former England international and maintains that both goalkeepers remain in the running for the number one position.
O’Neill said: “I wanted him to experience that match at Ibrox. This lad has played a lot of football, he was fourth choice for England not so long ago.
“But sometimes you haven’t experienced this and you have to go through that.”
The Celtic boss also commended Sinisalo, who made an impressive start to the season before being replaced by Johnstone. O’Neill added: “Sinisalo has done exceptionally well for us.
But I think I need competition for places; I need to know what somebody does. Now I’ve got goalkeepers wanting to fight for the position.
“At some stage or another, one will probably take over.”
He recognised the challenges managers encounter when trying to keep multiple goalkeepers satisfied, but emphasised that Celtic have yet to face any problems. O’Neill said: “That’s the problem with goalkeeping, as loads of managers have found out.
“When you have two, and one doesn’t play, then it becomes problematic in many aspects. But we haven’t reached that stage. In training, Vil wants to be it. He wants to be the man.
“His training has been really good.”
As Celtic get set for their Europa League encounter with Ferencvaros, the contest for the starting goalkeeper position remains wide open.
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