ODea: I missed the intensity of Celtic, this is where I want to succeed

Darren O'Dea is determined to show that he's got what it takes to make it at Celtic.

The defender has returned from a spell on the sidelines at Reading to become captain of Celtic during the toughest times of Tony Mowbray's reign.

Three years on from breaking into the first team the Dubliner is looking to use his current run in the team to cement his place in Mowbray's plans.

"It's good to be back at Celtic and back in the team," he said.

"When I was down at Reading I missed the intensity of it all, because playing for a club like Reading is different to life at a place like Celtic. It was good for me to get some games in with Reading but Celtic is the club I want to play for and the place I want to succeed, so I am happy to be back and in the team.

"Now my aim is to stay in the team and help the team win back the league title here. I have played in the last few games and been captain as well, that's a massive honour for me.

"When you see the legends who have been Celtic captain in the past, and there I am with the armband, it makes me very proud and makes me even more determined to succeed and prove to everyone that I deserve to be here.

"I spoke to Tony Mowbray when I came back from Reading a few weeks ago and he just said to get my head down and show him that I should be in the team.

"He has said that the best players will play; there are no favourites or agendas in his mind; he'll pick the strongest XI every week. Now I know that it's up to me to show I should be in there.

"I have to work hard in every game and in training every day to prove that I should be in the starting 11. As far as I am concerned I am here to stay for the season, there are no more loans planned, from what I know.

"I am in the team now, striving to stay in it and do as well as I can."

O'Dea's loan spell at Reading was intented to give him regular first team football to boost his long term prospects at Celtic.

Eight appearances during September and October came to a halt with the sacking of Brendan Rogers with a return to Celtic inevitable as soon as the transfer window re-opened.

O'Dea explained: "I am glad I went to Reading and I learned a lot about the game in the time I was there.

"Brendan Rogers was a great manager and a good bloke, but there are other people at the club who were bringing it down. Brendan was one of the good things about the club and I owe him a lot.

"It's just a pity that other people at the club were not helping, and I think Reading, as a club, will struggle until those people are gone.

"As a coach and a manager, Brendan taught me a lot and I still have a lot of time for him.

"I was moved around a bit when I was at Reading, I played centre-half and full-back. I had no problem with that, Reading had a few injuries and they needed people to fill in, so it wasn't a problem to play left back or right back.

"It was a good experience for me just to try something different. I've been at Celtic since I was 15 years old. I was 18 or 19 when I made my debut. I have been at the club all along and didn't have loan spells when I was younger, before I went to Reading.

"So to get out and go somewhere else, somewhere away from the goldfish bowl of life at Celtic, was good for me. I played eight games against good opposition and good players, maybe it should have gone better than it did, but I picked up a lot of experience there. I improved from working there."

Evening Herald article

Weather watch, the snow is lying on the streets of East Kilbride, six miles away from New Douglas Park

Youths face Motherwell on Saturday

Celtic's table-topping under-19 side return to action on Saturday with an away match against Motherwell at Airdrie's Excelsior Stadium.

The 11 o'clock kick off will allow anyone going along to the match the chance to watch most of the first team match at Hamilton which kicks-off at 12.30.

Celtic start the second half of the season two points clear of Hamilton and enjoyed a 4-1 win over the Fir Park side earlier in the season.

It's six weeks since the u-19's last outing but the break has been put to good use by Stevie Frail and his coaching team.

Frail explained: "Since the snow cleared we've been able to have two weeks full training and the boys are looking sharp.

"We've managed to get a few players back from injury and we're looking forward to playing again.

"Ideally you want to have a good balance between training and playing, we've spent a lot of time on the training ground and now we've got the chance to get back into action.

"We managed to get a couple of games in down south and they went well, now we're looking to pick up where we left off."

In the last eight of the SFA Youth Cup Celtic travel to Tannadice to meet Dundee United on February 14 with the kick-off time still to be confirmed.

SPL u-19 table

More strange refereeing decisions in a strange season

As Andreas Hinkel said after the recent draw with Falkirk there have been a lot of strange decisions against Celtic this season.

Continuing that theme tonight was another below par performance from Iain Brines littered with puzzling decisions which all went one way.

Tony Mowbray is responsible for the problems and failings of the Celtic team such as why Artur Boruc allowed a striker a free header in the six yard box from a corner and how Georgios Samaras manages to head over the bar from similar distances.

Mowbray's future rests on decisions like that.

Brines however appears answerable to no-one although it's no surprise that he no longer gets matches from UEFA and that Scottish referees will be watching the World Cup and later stages of the Champions League on television.

Throughout the entire match Brines gave puzzling decisions culminating in disallowing a 'goal' from Darren O'Dea just before half time.

From his vantage point outside the penalty box he disallowed the 'goal' without any appeal or claim coming from the Hibs players.

Earlier on he had penalised Samaras for nothing more than an ordinary challenge on Graeme Hogg that allowed the striker to turn the Hibs captain and head for goal.

Into the second half and Paul Hanlon flies into a two footed 'challenge' on Andreas Hinkel and escapes without as much as a word in his ear from the now lenient Brines.

There were no other dangerous fouls from the Hibs players but they could put in fouls in telling areas knowing that there was no prospect of a booking with Brines content to award a free-kick without even speaking to the offender.

Celtic's finishing was woeful with a number of chances created and missed, these matters are for Mowbray to address and be held responsible for.

With Celtic pushing forward for the winner substitute Ki Sung Yeung was fouled 25 yards from goal but rather than get a last chance from a set piece Brines waved play on.

Hibs quickly fed the ball to Anthony Stokes who pushed it into the path of substitute Danny Galbraith whose low shot across Boruc found the corner of the net.

An evening of strange decisions in a strange season from our match officials.

As Hinkel said after the draw with Falkirk: “As a player you give your best, but here, week after week, there is something happening.

“It's not really my thing to say something about referees but once again we had some strange decisions. Not just the penalty- look at the situation when Artur had a free-kick given against him.

“It hurts when we don't take chances but it just seems to be one thing after another at the moment.”

Could the Derry Pele be Celtic's Solskjaer?

by Joe McHugh Will there ever be a solution to the Paddy McCourt debate?

The 26-year-old scored his third goal of the season at St Johnstone on Sunday without having completed a full ninety minutes for the club- a Boydesque scoring record to most folk.

Is Paddy destined to be an impact player, formerly known as super-sub, or can he evolve into a 90 minute man that his manager can trust?

There are very few super-subs around even in these days of squad rotation with players moving on as soon as they fall out of the first team picture.

Only Ole Gunar Solskjaer fitted the bill, happy in his role as regular substitute and coming on to turn the course of matches.

Over half of the Norwegian's appearances for Manchester United were as a substitute as he helped himself to 128 goals before being forced into retirement through injury.

McCourt is well into his second season at Celtic and is no longer the enigma that scored wonder goals on a monthly basis for last season's reserve side.

Back-to-back goals against Falkirk and St Mirren early in the season added to the picture as his dribbling skills- and goalscoring ability- were brought to the attention of a larger audience.

Tony Mowbray tried to sign McCourt for West Brom and has given him five starts this season.

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Deciding where to play McCourt seems as much of an issue as getting 90 minutes out of him however as we saw on Sunday 30 minutes of quality is much more useful than 90 minutes of needless running around.

Is he a winger, would he be best playing behind the strikers or more effective coming from a deep midfield position?

Mowbray is a manager who puts an emphasis on skill and flair and is clearly willing McCourt to succeed but equally unsure over his fitness and reliability.

As a compromise having a substitute that glides effortlessly past tiring defenders and who knows how to find the net could be a priceless weapon.

Mowbray has often spoken about developing players by working on them at the training ground. The gymnasium is probably where McCourt needs to work on hardest although it's unlikely that any amount of gym work could transform him into the new Didier Agathe.

Equally no amount of time on the training ground improved Agathe's crossing or passing although his naked pace was used effectively throghout Martin O'Neill's time at the club.

With three SPL games coming up in the next seven days we're unlikely to get any answers in the short term.

As a squad player McCourt could be invaluable in a tight battle for the championship- even if he never gets around to completing 90 minutes in a Celtic jersey.

Evening Herald report on St Johnstone match

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Chairmans incredible machine gun rant

by Joe McHugh Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony has unleashed an incredibly honest statement on his club's website sparing no-one as he describes the season is graphic detail.

Football fans are forever wanting to know what is going on at their club- today's online rant has answered more questions that Peterborough supporters could ever have asked!

Transparency and honesty can be elusive in football with club's hiding behind the confidentiality clause as they keep their business under wraps... except at Peterborough.

Celtic cyberspace would go into meltdown if Peter Lawwell or John Reid were to come out with anything like that of their counterpart at Peterborough.

Back-to-back promotions under Darren Ferguson have catapulted the club into the Championship but sitting eight points away from safety the tension of almost inevitable relegation have pushed the club chairman into an amazing 'reveal all' rant.

Summarising his feeling MacAnthony said: "The team spirit from the last two years has nearly been destroyed by greed, skullduggery, tapping up and disloyalty from within and this has all occurred over the last 120 days or so, non stop and is eating away at our inner core.

"Every week brings another drama and it usually involves an ex-manager, a current team member and the promise of bigger wages followed by a derisory £100k bid and all this after the player has been unsettled and offered terms behind our back." The strange business world of football has come as a shock to the 33-year-old chairman who made his fortune on Spanish based property.

Turning to his players he added: "Our club took chances on many of our players when nobody else did and rewarded them all with good long term contracts that included the promotion bonuses and wage rises.

"They in turn repay the club with below par performances, temper tantrums off the field and making it clear they no longer want to play for our club when the going gets tough."

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Morale in the Celtic dressing room was apparently damaged when Tony Mowbray remarked that he would like to bring in ten players in January- the effect of MacAnthony's comments on the Peterborough dressing room can only be guessed at.

Peterborough face Preston tonight with former manager Ferguson returning for the first time.

Looking towards this event the Posh chief said: "Tuesday's game gives our club the chance to put the ghost of Darren Ferguson to bed and allow us to move on once and for all. It also gives our players a chance to show some character and most importantly some balls for the challenge ahead."

Even referees get it from MacAnthony with a comment that would have the SFA in meltdown if it came from a Scottish manager.

He claimed: "They are the worst standard of refs I have ever seen in my life at this level and have given our club nothing for most of the season. Before they try and fine me for those comments, they should review the majority of our games by tape and ask themselves if I am actually right?"
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Lambert takes Norwich top as club go to war with newspaper

Nowich overtook Leeds United to go to the top of Division One on Saturday but the result has been overshadowed by claims that the club is in serious financial difficulties.

Sunday's News of the World claimed that Paul Lambert's club are on the verge of administration triggering a furious denial from the club.

Celtic's issues last week with the Daily Record pale into insignificance compared to the reaction from Norwich to the News of the World story.

A legal letter has been sent to the newspaper publishers and reproduced on the Canaries website.

In summary the letter states: “Our client is not on the brink of administration.

“Our client is not teetering on the brink of financial meltdown.

“Our client will not go into administration by Thursday 28 January 2010 (or any other date) if they cannot find major (or any) new investors.

“Neither Ernst Young or KPMG nor any other person or firm has been "called in" as a potential administrator; and

“Our client does not desperately need new investment to stave off administration.”

The website demanded: “In the circumstances, our client requires the following:

“ 1. A full apology in wording to be agreed, to be published in at least as prominent a position in the next edition of the "News of the World" and on the NOTW website; in the same quantity as the offending Article.

“ 2. Payment of a substantial sum in damages

“ 3. Payment of all legal costs incurred to date

“ 4. An undertaking not to republish the article or repeat its allegations.

“Should you fail to satisfy these requirements our client will commence an action for defamation. We expect the immediate withdrawal of the Article from your websites and your full response within 7 day.”

Going to the top of the league looks like a side issue compared to the language used in that letter!

Lambert has done a fantastic job on Norwich with 25,000 watching their win over Brentford which almost aggregates the entire weekend attendances of the SPL outwith the Rangers-Hearts match.

After a troubled start to his management career at Livingston and Wycombe and a controversial departure from Colchester the former Celtic skipper is starting to enjoy the success he had as a player.

Promotion now looks likely for Norwich, after their clash with the News of the World keeping hold of their manager could be the club's biggest challenge.

Nowich website statement

Red card's don't turn matches- performances do

Celtic's convincing 4-1 win over St Johnstone wasn't due to the red card for Graham Gartland- it was caused by the emphatic second half display from Tony Mowbray's side.

It's easy to point to Gartland's sending off as the turning point in the match but every supporter has despaired as they watch their side fail to take advantage against ten men.

Equally we have all rejoiced at how our team has found that extra something despite being a man short to battle their way to victory.

There are examples all over the game of ten men winning with the most recent coming in the Milan derby when Inter Milan played for over an hour with ten men before increasing their lead then being reduced to nine men in injury time.

Inter had set the early pace but showed a 'dogs of war' attitude to dig in and keep Milan at bay with the effect of David Beckham and Ronaldinho nullified by great marking.

Without making any direct comparisons St Johnstone had no answer to the wide play of Paddy McCourt and Aiden McGeady who stretched the Perth defence creating the openings that Celtic eventually capitalised from.

The major concern for Celtic is that they seem to need to create five or six chances for every goal that they score.

Georgios Samaras was the main culprit yesterday missing two 'bread and butter' chances before burying a great volley to put Celtic in front.

The Greek striker was then booked for celebrating amongst the same supporters who had been cursing him earlier after over running the ball in the penalty area.

While Celtic won the match there was again some highly debatable refereeing from Willie Collum, another referee benefitting from being personally groomed by Hugh Dallas.

Collum performs with all the dramatics of the young Dallas in the days before the man from Bonkle became the most important 'personality' in Scottish football.

Collum had two borderline penalty incidents in yesterday's game and you wouldn't need to be Mystic Meg to guess which way the decisions went.

There was minimal contact in the penalty box in the 11th minute as Steven Milne tangled with Darren O'Dea and Glenn Loovens.

That was enough to have the excitable Collum off and running to the penalty spot but midway through the second half he failed to spot a trip on Paddy McCourt from Gary Irvine as the Celtic substitute darted into the penalty box.

St Johnstone's penalty claim was weaker than the foul on Marco Fortune by Falkirk's Steven McLean last week, one was given one wasn't.

Those type of marginal decisions have hammered Celtic over the last few months but with the kitchen sink, plus Paul McGowan, being thrown at St Johnstone there was no denying the hoops as they cut Rangers lead down to a more manageable seven points.

Four classic goals all had their own magic about them as the resilience of the St Johnstone defence and inspired goalkeeper Graham Smith was worn down.

Whether the game is a turn around in Celtic's Fortune's (ouch) for the season remains to be seen with games against Hibs, Hamilton and Kilmarnock coming up within seven days.

Three wins in those games will reduce Rangers lead further and just as importantly give the squad a surge of belief and confidence.

With Jos Hooiveld poised for his debut and Morten Rasmussen about to sign from Brondby January could turn into a significant month as Mowbray puts his stamp on the side.

Just as they did at the Wembley Cup against Spurs and in the Co-Operative Cup at Falkirk Celtic's back up players showed that they are upto the mark.

Missing for a variety of reasons yesterday was the following useful looking XI: Lucas Zaluska; Mark Wilson, Stephen McManus, Jos Hooiveld, Danny Fox; Scott Brown, Landry N'Guemo, Ki Sung Yeung, Shaun Maloney; Kki Mizuno, Scott McDonald

Hooiveld captaincy hint

Tony Mowbray has dropped a strong hint that Jos Hooiveld could be his captain.

The Dutch defender is expected to make his debut on Wednesday against Hibs but has already made a big impact off the park.

Since arriving at Celtic last summer Mowbray has shared the captaincy between Gary Caldwell and Stephen McManus with Darren O'Dea leading Celtic in the Scottish Cup win against Morton.

Mowbray is from the old school that sees the captain's job as more than just wearing an armband and leading the team out and clearly looks to the centre of defence for leaders.

The Celtic boss admitted: "We're looking for strong characters and for a new leader to come out of the dressing room.

"You listen to Jos Hooiveld, who's not a shy boy and who's already vocal both on the training ground and also in the dressing room.

"It would be unfair to say who I think can step up for us but I am pretty sure that some personalites will grow out of it.

"A captain will evolve, I think. That's how personalities come out of the dressing room. Darren O'Dea was our captain on Tuesday - he had a tough time at the end at Reading but his personality and character are very strong.

"Whether he's in the team or not, he's got raw attributes and his personality comes out."

Mowbray has spent the January transfer window overhauling his squad and is looking for fresh characters to emerge.

He added: "I see enough quality in the squad at the moment but we have lost Gary Caldwell and Barry Robson who were both big characters in the dressing room.

"When you lose big characters out of a dressing room other players can find that quality within themselves. When I arrived at West Brom I had a very experienced side which Bryan Robson had put together but that team basically disappeared and by the time I left there were only about two players left.

"Jonathan Greening, for instance, was a quiet little talented footballer among a lot of big personalities and he grew into a leader on the pitch and off it.

"He was our captain, basically because of his talent to start with - but then he found his voice and knew the responsibilities he had. He became a natural leader."

Hooived played for Celtic's development side in the 2-1 win in midweek at Blackburn where he formed a new look defensive partnership with Thomas Rogne.

The Norwegian defender isn't expected to become a first team player this season but has already made a favourable impression on his new manager.

Mowbray said: "I've been very impressed with what I've seen in training. He played alongside Jos Hooiveld in a bounce game against a very strong Blackburn Rovers side this week - the strikers were Jason Roberts and El-Hadji Diouf so it was a good test for the centre-halves.

"They had a lot of international first-team players involved but our young side won the game, which was at their training ground, 2-1 and both centre-halves did really well.

"Thomas is only 19 years old but when I look at the physicality of him compared to some of the boys we have at our training ground, he's a man already.

"He isn't particularly for this weekend, next weekend or the weekend after. I think you buy Thomas Rogne and hopefully save yourself £5m two years down the line when the club needs a centre-half and you've already got him."