RedTV | Jonny Hayes on his contract extension

Jonny talked exclusively to RedTV after signing his contract extension:

“I have been in talks with the manager.

“The communication has been brilliant between myself and the manager for the last five to six weeks.

“This is something that we discussed back in September, October time but we had a busy December then we were away with the trip in January so we never really got the time to sit down and finish the talks. With the speculation in January the manager was very fair with me and we took it day by day and once the window came and went it was easy to get things tied up.

“We have got a good team and it has improved year on year with the gaffer in charge.

“There has never been anything other than signs of commitment from the boys signing long contracts year after year, the backing from the club to give out those deals has been brilliant as well so there has been a lot of loyalty on both parts. Certainly from the point of view of the manager giving the boys contracts and the chairman approving them.

“The manager is shrewd as he knows when to get the boys signed up, he tries to get his business done early so that we can focus on our football and from a personal point of view I have appreciated that as the manager has always been very fair to me.

“Adam is signed up, Graeme is signed up, myself now, so hopefully there is more to come.

“We are a close knit bunch and the dressing room is very tight, we all get on very well with each other so it’s happened before where there has been a bit of a domino effect. But at the end of the day lads have to take after their personal interests and I am sure they will make the right decision when the time comes.

“I was more than happy to sign again and I have appreciated every minute that I have been here and I am still enjoying it as well working under the manager. When I signed the last extension, I think it was three years ago, I always said that as long as he was here I would be happy to stay and I think that is the same with a lot of the boys.

“The Scottish Cup is a prestigious trophy and I always look back to the time when I got injured in the gaffer’s first full season when we won the League Cup. We went down to play St Johnstone in the semi-final at Ibrox and I missed out on that game and I have always looked back on that with a bit of regret as we were winning the game and I was starting to think to myself that it would have been nice to play in a final.

“It wasn’t to be that year but it’s always a competition that we want to do well in but things haven’t quite gone as planned for the last couple of years. We will go to Ross County knowing that it will be a tough game as we didn’t take anything from it last time, we know that we will need to improve on that.

“One day I was up in Aviemore and one of my best mates rang me to ask if I was in Cardiff for a medical – I was up on a mountain in Aviemore with my dogs! It’s the thing with social media now where all it takes is one person to make a statement before it snowballs. The club have done very well containing that side of it and been very honest with the fans and myself. Whenever anything has happened the manager has updated me straight away and told me well in advance how the club were going to deal with it.

“We actually had a good chat before we left for Dubai in the airport, we kind of knew how the month was going to be. We kind of figured out that it was best just to focus on the football and I am thankful we did because we had a nice trip to Dubai to get away from the speculation before coming back to some games. Then on the last day we were focusing on Celtic rather than what was going to happen so I think the way the club dealt with things was brilliant.”

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