IF anyone had earned the right to kiss the Celtic crest during his time at the club over the years then it was surely someone as devoted to the cause as Peter Grant. Making over 350 appearances in a 15-year spell with the team he has had a life-long love affair with, the present-day Scotland number two certainly earned his stripes in the hoops.

But throughout his long association with Celtic and beyond, he has always held true to the ideal that no man was bigger than the club, which is why he believes the champions were right to play hardball with want-away defender Dedryck Boyata over the summer.

Grant revealed that he and national head coach Alex McLeish actually tried to sign the Belgian when they were in charge of Nottingham Forest, and he is an admirer of a player his country are likely to take on at Hampden in tomorrow night’s friendly international.

But his admiration for the player on the pitch doesn’t mean he has any sympathy with his actions off it, and he says that his old side were well within their rights to hold onto a player that was contracted to them as he tried to force a move.

“I never ever kissed the badge because you never knew what might happen, the next day you could’ve been away,” Grant said.

“That annoys me a little bit these days, they tell everybody how great they are and how much the club means to them — then the next day they’re gone.

“Boyata made a decision, Celtic were strong on it. He’s still here.

“Listen, he’s come on leaps and bounds with Celtic after a period where he was going nowhere. When me and Alex were at Forest for the short period of time, we actually tried to get Boyata in on loan. But that fell down for whatever reason.

“Celtic have stood strong, which I feel was important. If you’ve got a player under contract and you want him to stay, then it’s important you hold him to that.

“In certain situations, you just can’t, for whatever reason, and you have to move him on. It can also be for the betterment of the group. Sometimes a manager has got to come out and back this one and that one. But it can also be for the detriment if you keep a certain player.

“Nobody’s bigger than any football club. That will never change. The supporters and the club never ever change. Players always change. That will always be the case.

“It’s very difficult for clubs now, the days of players staying forever more have long gone.

“Testimonials are just going to become rarer and rarer. I think you get a testimonial for three years now.”

All that being said, Grant can’t help but admire the way that Boyata has performed since coming back into the Celtic fold against Hamilton almost a fortnight ago, particularly as a large section of his own club’s supporters weren’t exactly willing to welcome him back with open arms.

In fact, he rates his latest performance as perhaps his best for the club.

“I thought Boyata was excellent against Rangers, I thought he defended the middle of his box exceptionally well,” he said. “Crossed balls into the box he defended ever so well.

“It was as good as I’ve seen him play, if I’m being honest. Sometimes that bit of pressure coming from the supporters - the ‘you’re not fit to wear the jersey’ banner - can make you go and stand up against it, be strong enough to take it. Especially at a Celtic or Rangers.

“I’ve said before, down in England you go through nothing like you do up here. When you get brought up with the whole Celtic and Rangers thing and then go down to England you can realise why so many players have failed at Parkhead and Ibrox. It’s everything that goes with it, the intense pressure and scrutiny.

“There’s the phone-ins, the social media, it’s just 24-7. You don’t get that in England, nowhere near it. Boys can hide away down there, they can go somewhere and get their coffee, not be bothered.

“Here? Well, you lose a game with Celtic or Rangers and you need to hide for six weeks. I used to do that a helluva lot during my period — hide from both sets of supporters!

“But, Boyata’s done exceptionally well. He was excellent against Rangers.”

After the friendly meeting with Belgium tomorrow night, Grant will fix his gaze on the less glamorous but infinitely more important fixture against Albania on Monday night in the UEFA Nations League.

It would be fair to say that the format of the competition has yet to capture the imagination of the Scottish footballing public, but Grant is excited by the chance to not only get into real competitive action, but also the opportunity the games against the Albanians and Israel present to get into the play-offs for the European Championships.

“The other games after Friday night now really mean something and I think you can see that in the players,” he said. “They want to be selected. This is competition time.

“A Scottish trait, I’ve always said, is you love competition. That’s one thing everybody thrives off.

“It’s easier to get players to come and play, to motivate them. Games that count are everything.

“You can feel a sense that it’s soon going to be competition time again. The attitude in training of the boys has been first class. Everybody’s looking forward to the challenge ahead.

“To qualify with your country would be number one on the list, there’s absolutely no doubt over that.

“That’s what you try and achieve, you want to be the best you can.

“With your country you are representing everybody. I don’t think there can be any greater challenge than trying to take your country to a competition.

“I didn’t pick up a lot of caps for Scotland. But I loved every opportunity to come along. They were the greatest days of my life.”