Every Celtic fan should wish Matt O’Riley a speedy recovery. That injury could easily have happened up here.

Earlier in the week, I did a piece on Mikey Johnston, in which I said that it’s only in the case of former academy players that I actually feel anything in terms of interest when they leave.

But it is impossible for any fan of the club who has enjoyed watching him for the last three years not to recognise that Matt O’Riley is a fantastic football player who gave his all for us in every match, and to feel a deep sense of sorrow for the guy getting injured in only his first game for his new club.

I didn’t watch the game itself, but my old man drew my attention to the tackle and the injury around the 10th minute of the game.

Even watching it later, there was a sharp intake of breath because it was obviously very, very bad. I thought the guy should have gone off with a straight red card, although it was early in the match. There was a recklessness and even a viciousness to the tackle that is completely unacceptable, and I thought he was very lucky to stay on the pitch.

Matt was not going to be so lucky, and you could see that almost straight away. He was clearly in a lot of distress, not simply due to the pain and the nature of the injury itself, but because he realised it was something likely to put him out for a long spell. Their manager has now confirmed that he needs surgery and that it could be many months before he’s back in the side.

One of the things people often say is that players are only interested in money. And that’s one of the reasons why they won’t come to Scotland and Celtic—because we can’t afford to pay the big bucks that other clubs can. This is not true.

There are footballers who understand that there are things more valuable than what’s in their bank accounts. They don’t play the game primarily for the cash—although they, like everyone else, want to go where they’re most valued, where they’re well paid, and where their families are well looked after. But they play for something more than just that. They play for the enjoyment of the game, for the love of the game, and the best of them want to play in front of passionate crowds and win things at the very highest level.

Rodgers talks about this often—about how he wants to look every signing in the eye. He wants to talk face-to-face with every one of them and make sure that, aside from the physical and technical attributes, they also have that hunger and that will to win things and to be out on the pitch. People who take pleasure in the simple act of being on the field and taking part in games.

Because without that, you get people who are just going through the motions. You get people who see football as nothing more than a job, and on those rainy nights at tricky away grounds, those aren’t the guys you want out there on the pitch.

It’s entirely obvious which sort of player Matt O’Riley is, and that’s the reason Brendan got on so well with him, trusted him, and played him every week.

O’Riley is not one of those guys who wants to sit on a bench and take the money. He’s not one of those guys who will gain any satisfaction from sitting in the stand on 80 grand a week or whatever it is. The money might bring him some small comfort, but the simple truth is that a guy like that isn’t playing primarily with that in mind, although it certainly is a factor.

He just wants to be out there doing his thing, and he wants to be doing it in the most challenging environment possible because he knows that will make him the best player he can be.

O’Riley, without any shadow of a doubt, sees Brighton itself as a stepping stone. It puts him in the shop window of the Premiership. And if he can do well there, if he can make the grade there and look like a top football player then the sky’s the limit for him.

Because he’s still young, and he’s got it all out in front of him.

But something like this can really set you back. By the time he’s fully fit, some young thruster from their bench could be in place, playing every week and playing well every week. And that makes it, all of a sudden, a challenge to get back into the side. It makes it a fight, and you might find yourself sitting on the bench after all. All of that has to play on his mind, and he has to be wondering how easy it will be to get back on top.

There are people who will say, “Well, he’s got the money either way, so it doesn’t matter to us any.” That’s correct; it doesn’t matter to us.

But on a purely human level, you look at a player who gave you so much, a player who didn’t make any noise in the background, who didn’t bang on the drum, who didn’t demand the move, who didn’t play any stupid little head games, and who still went out on the pitch every single week and performed, performed, performed.

He put himself in harm’s way for the club and was willing to cover every blade of grass and put in his work for the cause. You cannot put a price on that.

There are a lot of players who, whilst talks were ongoing, would have held something back, would have found excuses not to take part in games, or would have pulled out of tackles or whatever it is. And he didn’t do any of that—not a bit of it.

And that should earn all of our appreciation. And that should have our recognition because that injury could have easily happened to him up here at any one of a half-dozen grounds where some of the challenges have been scandalous in recent years and where referees do not afford our players the least protection. We’ve seen O’Riley and other Celtic players go down under heavy challenges and thought, “That’s surely a red … ?”

And without one being forthcoming. We all know it.

So, yes, he could have protected himself from that. He could have gone out on the pitch and avoided those kinds of challenges because he knew that a move was in his future. But he played and he worked tirelessly in that spell towards the end of the last campaign when we needed every hand on deck. And he was one of the men who produced and produced every week. He played in each game of pre-season and for the start of this campaign.

I cannot have a higher admiration or respect for that. He was prepared to sacrifice, if necessary, at our club to get that job done.

I wish him well for his recovery and hope that he is back on the pitch soon and that Brighton sees the player they signed—the player that we know so well—and who proved in only his very short time in his first game for them that he will not shirk and he will not shrink away from going in for a 50-50 ball. A player of immense courage, personal integrity, and who deserves a speedy recovery and great success.