He may be a Celtic player but Darnell Fisher has revealed he was backing St Johnstone to the hilt when they played at Parkhead two weeks ago.
The 21-year-old had joined Saints on a season-long loan just four days before they made the trip to the east end of Glasgow.
He was not allowed to play against his parent club but as he sat in the stands next to the injured Steven Anderson, Fisher insisted he did not have a problem with divided loyalties.
Fisher said: “The manager (Tommy Wright) told me he had tried to sign me three or four times. I wasn’t aware of that until I came here.
“He has shown faith in me and I want to repay him for that. I want to impress him.
“I am a team player and hopefully the fans will see my hard work on the pitch.
“I am a St Johnstone player. I won’t be going to watch Celtic if we don’t have a game.
“I was sitting beside Ando for the game at Celtic Park. I saw a few people I know at the stadium but I found it easy to back St Johnstone. I had pulled on the jersey and trained with the lads. So you want the team to do well.
“It is a hard place to go but I was disappointed with the result.
“I have gone on loan from Celtic now and who knows what the future holds. But I am here for the season and will give my all to St Johnstone.”
Fisher has featured 21 times for Celtic’s first team in the last two seasons but he admitted one of the main attractions of joining Saints was the lure of regular games in the Premiership.
He said: “I am here to do as well as I possibly can and do well for the team.
“I have had some very positive messages from Celtic fans, asking me why I was going but wishing me all the best.
“It was nice to hear that from supporters.
“But I need to be playing football. There’s no point training all week and watching games from the stand on a Saturday.
“Some young players might have been content to stay and just be around the team at a big club like Celtic but that’s not me. I have played for Celtic and have got quite a lot of first-team starts.
“Once you get a taste of that you just want more that is why I have come to St Johnstone.
“The manager at Celtic just told me to go and play and get more experience under my belt.”
Fisher is now hoping that he will be involved against Hamilton on Saturday as he has had to be patient since arriving at McDiarmid with the game against Celtic being followed by the international break.
He added: “The lads have made me feel very welcome. I have had an Under-20 game and I have settled in quickly.
“It has given me a chance to get to know everyone and remember all the boys’ names. I didn’t really know any of them before coming here but they have made it easy for me.
“I was saying to friends it has been disappointing having to wait a couple of weeks to make my debut because we were playing Celtic and then it was the international break.
“Hopefully now I can get a good run of games under my belt if I am selected to play against Hamilton.”