Sounds a bit Irish?

On 30th January 1982, a 17-year-old Paul McStay scored on his debut for Celtic in a league victory over Aberdeen, laying immediate claim to a central midfield position that would be his own for 15 years.

Moral of the story: if you're good enough, you're old enough.

24th May 1995 – an 18-year-old Patrick Kluivert scores the winning goal for Ajax against AC Milan in the Champions League final.

Moral of the story: if you're good enough, you're old enough.

30 June 1998 – Michael Owen, aged 18, scores the World Cup goal of the tournament for England against Argentina.

Moral of the story: if you're good enough, you're old enough.

15th March 2009 – 22-year-old Darren O'Dea scores against Rangers in the CIS Cup Final, two and a half years after his Celtic debut, having faced AC Milan in the Champions League and been included in Giovanni Trapattonni's Irish national squads.

Moral of the story: the boy needs more time?

Facing the most crucial match of the season on Saturday, Celtic must choose two reliable central defenders, capable of holding their nerve under immense pressure and, most likely, extreme provocation.

O'Dea, who has acquitted himself well at left-back but was nevertheless born to play in the centre, somehow finds himself fourth-choice. Yet, he has never baulked at a challenge and, of all the defenders at the club, he has the greatest potential.

Given the near certainty that Stephen McManus's injuries will rule him out for the game, O'Dea should be considered a must-have in the team. But still, he is cosseted as McManus, Gary Caldwell and Glen Loovens have all been preferred to the Irishman, who has rarely put a foot wrong in a Celtic jersey. Isn't it time to trust him for the biggest challenge of all?

On the form he has shown this season, nobody could reasonably argue against the inclusion of Gary Caldwell. However, though there are similarities between the two players (apart from their haircuts), it is O'Dea who is the more naturally talented and whose use of the ball is better. And you cannot have too many defenders who can win the ball in the air as well as being comfortable on the ground.

It remains to be seen whether Caldwell will play in defence or be pushed into a midfield role to nullify the Rangers central midfield, which is after all approximately 50% of the R-word's entire threat.

But it seems inconceivable that a talent such as O'Dea could again be confined to the bench when all that stands between him and a flourishing career is opportunity.

It would be as wrong to use Saturday's match to placate a player who may soon look elsewhere to further his career as it would be unforgivable to lose an exceptional talent through near-obsessive over-protection.

But, despite the misconceptions of the ignorant, decisions that sound a bit Irish are most often eminently sensible. Just ask Michael, Patrick and Paul.





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Set up to fail by no-spend policy

So the dust has settled on a top-of-the-table encounter that was not so much a disappointment as a confirmation of the worst fears of Celtic supporters.

What have we learned? Nothing.

What have we been forced to confront? That the club's negligence in maintaining an adequate squad (never mind aiming to improve) could better be described as reckless endangerment of our title ambitions.

For 45 minutes, Celtic dominated a Rangers team whose paucity of talent is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that the club and Scotland's top scorer was not allowed a second on the park while Lee “Elbows” McCulloch was invited to start the match and introduce his studs to rib-cages at his whim. Despite this, only one chance was created.

In the second half, the team somehow contrived to allow time on the ball to Barry Ferguson and Pedro Mendes – the only two quality players in blue (and with the greatest respect to Ferguson, time has taken its toll on his limbs). This resulted in Celtic actually managing to be second-best to Rangers after the break.

But here's the rub: Rangers are and were awful, their smothering 4-1-4-1 epitomising the anti-football of the pathologically inferior side. Celtic looked almost embarrassed, like a strapping young man being attacked by a drunk pensioner but constantly slipping on an icy pavement, continually looking round to make sure that no-one was watching.

Is this a team to achieve a treble (yes, Darren and Giorgios, that question is aimed at you)? Not unless all football conventions turn on their heads, Celtic Park is laid with one-way grass and referees like Willie Collum start moving walls away from balls instead of the reverse.

Given recent form and a transfer window that saw Celtic defy the odds and enter February actually relatively weaker than the club that ended 2008, the best we can hope for is a stumbling performance the like of which was last seen when Wim Jansen's side tripped over the line with the least-worst form of the two hamstrung giants.

Our strikers – all three of them – seem to have spent far too much time at the hands of Zero Tolerance, habitually assuming a non-threatening demeanour. Scott McDonald looks like a player who, with a big fat pay check thinks it is appropriate to replace quantity with rare, special quality when it comes to goals.

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (much admired on this blog) is demonstrating how injuries to nippy players with a turn of pace over ten yards are as nothing compared to the crocking of one-gear strikers without an accelerator. Jan has been quoted as saying he must end his goal drought, which is tantamount to saying that the banks ought to get their act together.

As for Giorgios Samaras? Well, suffice it to say that his polo neck is hotter than the odds of him upsetting any goalkeepers these days.

On the other hand, we have a glut of talent in midfield – too many to play – amounting to a “too many cooks” scenario that is by no means adapting to squad rotation.

The defence continues to have its wobbles – with personnel still looking uncomfortable with zonal marking every time something unexpected (like a cross or a mis-hit pass) is witnessed.

On this, it is only right to mention Lee Nayor. Lee has suffered from constant demands for a new left-back (hey, his form has led to demands for a new left-back) but on Sunday he performed reasonably well, as he has on several occasions this season. We absolutely need competition in that area but the attempts of our financial decision-makers to smudge over this weakness has exposed poor Lee to the sort of unwarranted intrigue last seen when Saddam Hussein was filmed in his y-fronts.

Lee has not been an especially weak link of late and he hasn't prevented any signings.

But we know the men who have.

All this doom and gloom is a roundabout way of returning to an inescapable point: Celtic are regressing while attempting to keep one notch ahead of parity with a Rangers that is heading down the toilet.

There are easily identifiable people who shoulder the blame for the wreckage of our squad and squandering of our ambitions.

We know who they are and the empirical evidence helps to identify them, despite what their paid apologists claim.

But that is another story...





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