Kris Commons told Celtic he is not being greedy in his new contract demands amid possibly the "strangest" contract impasse he has ever been involved in.
The Hoops midfielder, who scored a long-range deflected drive in the 1-0 win at Ross County which took the champions three points clear of Aberdeen at the top of the Scottish Premiership, comes to the end of his current deal in the summer and is looking for two-year extension.
However, Celtic have not yet agreed to those demands, leaving the 31-year-old in limbo.
Commons appeared more than happy to discuss his future after admitting "it was good to get on the scoresheet".
Asked whose hands the situation was in, he said: "It is in the hands of Celtic, maybe? Peter Lawwell (chief executive), the board, they have all got a part to play if they want me to stay for the next couple of years.
"I have said that I don't want to leave, this is where I belong.
"I am comfortable here but everything has to be right for the club and myself.
"My agent is speaking to them, they are speaking to me, they want me to stay, I want to stay but we can't agree on something minute.
"If I was asking for the world I would think my future lay elsewhere but I don't feel like I'm being greedy.
"It is not ideal, at all. I am trying to concentrate on playing football and playing well.
"We have very important games coming up.
"I am lucky enough, I have had a good run in the team, I got a goal today, so that is positive.
"On the other side of things, I am a father of three and my Mrs was doing the rounds the other day looking at different schools and it is difficult to know if I am going to be here or not."
Asked how close he is to agreeing a new deal, there was a long pause before Commons, linked with a move to Bolton and a reunion with former boss Neil Lennon, replied: "I don't know. It has been going on for so long. I feel it is a little strange when you ask for a little bit and you don't get it.
"I am hoping it will be sorted this week.
"I will be happy when the transfer window shuts.
"At least I will know if I will here. I think the speculation has come because it has been possibly the strangest position I have ever been in."
Celtic manager Ronny Deila, who revealed defender Charlie Mulgrew had a setback with a recent knee injury during the week which will put him out for six weeks, stressed yet again that he would like Commons to sign a new contract.
He said: "I hope so too. We will see. We have a good communication so there is no problem there.
"We have no hard thoughts there. There are two different views just now but both of us want to solve it."
Asked about a link with Manchester United's Scotland midfielder, Darren Fletcher, he said: "There is nothing new in that matter. He has several names (interested clubs) and I think it is best for me to wait to next Monday to see where we are."
Staggies boss Jim McIntyre was not too downhearted by the defeat for the league's bottom side but claimed his side might have had a penalty in the first-half when Celtic defender Emilio Izaguirre challenged Craig Curran.
He said: "We were excellent and showed the right reaction to losing to St Mirren last weekend.
"It was a cruel way to lose the game to a deflected goal.
"We put so much into it, so much effort. The game plan was to sit off Celtic, frustrate them and hit them on the break.
"I don't think we deserved to lose a game to a goal like that.
"And I've certainly seem them (penalty claims) given.
"He's certainly put his arm across the face and neck area to make the challenge, and in my mind our player is heading the ball.
"Some you get, some you don't.
"But I'm not going to make it about a refereeing decision because it certainly wasn't that."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article