Lesser-spotted Celtic misfit Marian Shved reckons a boot up the backside from his manager was exactly what he needed to turn him into one of the top players in Belgium this season.
The Ukrainian is on loan at Mechelen and has won rave reviews for his performances since the turn of the year in the Belgian top flight.
Yet it seemed certain he would be on his way back to Celtic in January after he was slaughtered by Mechelen boss Wouter Vrancken for his attitude and inability to mix with the rest of his team. He threatened to cut short the loan and even suggested Shved took up billiards instead of playing football.
And Shved admitted that was exactly what he needed amid his time away from the Premiership side, whose arrival in Glasgow was famously met with indifference by then-manager Brendan Rodgers.
He explained: "When the manager gave that interview, he said some pretty harsh things about me.
"That changed my mentality entirely. It motivated me and suddenly I was determined to make an impact here.
"I trained harder and gained the confidence of the coach. Suddenly, I gave a 100 per cent on every sprint and every tackle. That made a big difference.
"The more playing minutes I got, the smoother the integration went. I felt the respect of my teammates increase.
"I don't have a knack for languages, my talents lie elsewhere. I understand almost everything in English, but speaking is still difficult.
"At the start, the training schedule was hard for me because we were expected to arrive by 8am and usually I am still sleeping then! So I was the last to arrive and first to leave and I understand why that didn't give a good impression. It was my own fault.
"Ukrainians sometimes lack self-confidence and young Ukrainian players like me are sensitive, emotional and easily offended. Back home, people come to pat you on the back and ask how it's going when they see that something is wrong. That does not happen here. But it was up to me to adjust and I have.
"It's not how you start the season, it's how you end it that counts."
