As a lifelong Celtic fan, Luke McCowan is keenly aware that he isn’t only living out his own dream, but that of tens of thousands of other supporters of the club. And if he didn’t know that already, they aren’t shy in reminding him.

In the month or so since he made the switch from Dundee to his boyhood heroes, it has slowly sunk in that he is now a Celtic player. Though, as he reports to Lennoxtown to train alongside the likes of Callum McGregor every day or pulls on the green and white hoops to play in front of 60,000 fellow fans at Celtic Park, he still gives himself a little pinch every now and again, just to make sure.

He recognises though that along with his new reality comes responsibility, and that he owes every single Celtic supporter who is rooting for him to succeed to give it his all in order to do so.

He wants to give his best for the club to prove that he belongs at such a level, of course, but also to ensure he makes the very most of an opportunity for which so many like him would give their eye teeth and right arm into the bargain.

“I feel as if the fans are really behind me, because every one of them says to me that I’m living their dream!” McCowan said.

“I understand that completely.

“It might have seemed a bizarre transfer to some. I know I played well last year, but you’re 26 years old, coming from Dundee, it’s not really a common transfer.

“But now I’m here I’ve got to show to those fans that I deserve their support, and I’m desperate to repay them with goals and assists and hopefully by helping the team to win games and trophies.

“I feel that support from the fans everywhere I go, and it’s an incredible thing. It’s obviously nice to hear other people saying how much they are behind me.

“I’ve got a good family too and a good circle, and they all tell me to stay focused and to work as hard as I can. It’s got me this far, so hopefully it can take me further during my time at Celtic.”

He felt that warmth and goodwill from the stands most when he scored his first Celtic goal in just his second appearance for the club against Hearts.

It was an important goal in the context of the game, as his late strike to clinch a 2-0 win laid to rest some creeping nerves that the struggling Jambos may just be able to snatch a point, but there seemed an extra edge to the celebrations too simply because it was McCowan that got it.

“It was incredible to be fair,” he said.

“It was a dream from when I was a wee boy to be perfectly honest.

“Now that I’ve done it once I want to do it as many times as I can, but here it is all about helping the team and pushing the team on.

“I’ll be trying to do that in every training session and every game.”

McCowan has been keen to make the most of every chance he gets in those training sessions or in matches to impress Brendan Rodgers. He knows that the competition for places in the Celtic midfield, arguably the strongest department of their team, is fierce, and that every time his manager is watching, he has to show up well.

It is unlikely that the novelty of playing for Celtic will ever wear off for him, but now that he has settled into life at the club, he wants to puff out his chest and show that he can be a valuable asset.

“The week after I signed was the international break - that feels so long ago now - but I think that was a good week for me to get my feet in the door and try to settle and get a routine in,” he said.

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“You don’t really know your workplace right away, and you don’t really know the people you’re working with, so it’s like any other job in that it takes you a bit of time to get used to.

“But it’s been really good, and now that I’ve been here about a month or so I’m settling in great.

“You can obviously see the quality of the squad every day, but you’ve got to believe that you’re good enough to play alongside those guys.

“I think just going to a new club just in general for anybody, no matter if you are going below or going above, it’s difficult for anybody. But when you’re going to the best club in Scotland and you are playing Champions League football, it’s going to be tougher than normal!

“It’s been great though and you are getting to learn off of these guys. I’m getting to learn off of people like Callum and Jamesy (Forrest), who have been unreal, and now it’s just about working as hard as I can and getting as many minutes as possible.”

Playing alongside such players, and working under Rodgers, has, McCowan feels, already made him a better player.

“One hundred percent,” he said.

“I think obviously playing in front of 60,000 fans as well, it helps to throw you right in at the deep end a wee bit.

“Luckily enough, the second game in I got that goal, so I think that settled my nerves and gave me a bit of confidence to know that I’m good enough to play with a club of this size.”