Celtic are on the verge of signing defender Alistair Johnston from CF Montreal, with the 24-year old set to become manager Ange Postecoglou's second signing of the winter transfer window, following the deal to bring Japanese defender Yuki Kobayashi from Vissel Kobe.
Johnston has featured in both of Canada's World Cup Group F fixtures so far against Belgium and Croatia, completing the full 90 minutes in both matches. And despite the fact that his country lost both matches, the right back has caught the eye with some strong performances, which has seen the Parkhead giants swiftly move in to secure his signature. Although Canada are now unable to qualify for the knockout stage in Qatar, they do have one more chance to clinch their first ever World Cup victory in only their second appearance in the competition, when they take on Morocco on Thursday.
Celtic are believed to be paying around £3m for the defender's services, whose stock in the world of football has risen rapidly thanks to his World Cup exploits. With the deal all but confirmed, Johnston could be in line for a Hoops debut against Old Firm rivals Rangers on January 2.
However, the former St John's Red Storm man will not be the first Canadian footballer to pull on the green-and-white jersey. Scotland and Canada have and continue to enjoy long-standing cultural and historical ties with the nation of Canada, and that is no different in football. Alistair Johnston will follow in the footsteps of goalkeeper Joe Kennaway who had an illustrious eight-year spell with Celtic back in the 1930s.
Born in Montreal to Scottish parents in 1907, Kennaway started his football career with local amateur side Montreal CPR, before making the move to American Soccer League team Providence F.C in 1927. He made over 150 appearances for the Massachusetts based side, who went through several ownerships and name changes, including New Bedford Whalers and Fall River F.C during his four years at the club.
But it was in a match for Fall River 1931 that the stopper's career really took off. Celtic toured the USA during that time, and took on Fall River in a friendly match, where Kennaway stole the show with a stunning individual performance that impressed Hoops gaffer Willie Maley. Following the tragic death of legendary local goalkeeper John Thomson during a match later that year, Kennaway was brought in as his replacement, officially joining Celtic on 30th October 1931. Remarkably, just a day after arriving in Glasgow via a boat, he was able to make his debut against Motherwell on Halloween, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
Over the next eight years, the goalkeeper became a stalwart of long serving manager Willie Maley's Celtic team, and clocked up 295 appearances in total. In that time he won the league title twice in 1935 and 1938, and also the Scottish Cup in 1937 where they beat Aberdeen 2-1 in the final, watched at Hampden by a packed crowd of 146,433.
Kennaway also helped Celtic clinch glory in the unofficial Empire Exhibition Trophy in 1938, where he conceded just a single goal in four matches as the club were hailed as the "champions of Great Britain." He was described as a solid, dependable goalkeeper who relished the physical side of the game, and whose incredible agility and reactions also made him an excellent penalty saver.
Uniquely, the goalkeeper also held a dual nationality, which meant he was able to represent both his native Canada and Scotland at international level, picking up a single cap with each. Kennaway played for Canada against the USA in 1926, and then seven years later turned out for Scotland against Austria at Hampden in 1933. Unfortunately for the Montreal born stopper, the other Home Nations were not happy with a Canadian keeping goal for Scotland, and so Kennaway did not go onto win any further caps, despite his exploits with Celtic.
After eight years at the club, Joe Kennaway opted to return to his native Canada in 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War Two. He later delved into coaching in the US with the Brown University soccer team who he led from 1946 to 1959. Joe Kennaway sadly passed away in 1969 at the age of 62, after a sudden heart-attack and is buried in Highland Memorial Park, on Rhode Island in the US.
However his legacy in football lived on long after his death, and he was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2000. And now 83 years on from Joe Kennaway's departure at Parkhead, Celtic now look set to have another Canadian on their hands in Alistair Johnston, who will hope to emulate his late compatriot and leave his own mark in the colours of green-and-white.
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