GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - APRIL 20: Adam Idah of Celtic celebrates after scoring his team's third goal during the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Semi Final match between St Johnstone and Celtic at Hampden Park on April 20, 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
I have weird memories from my younger days. I retain a lot of knowledge that I must have picked up at some point, but I couldn’t, for the life of me, tell you where or when or how I ever came to possess it.
A couple of years ago, I was looking for an analogy to sum up some of the scattershot behaviour across the city — and a weird one came to mind. Of little tiny people living inside someone’s head, controlling the body and everything it did by writing down instructions and sticking them into a computer. I wondered where the hell that image came from. So I Googled it — and it turns out I was remembering some weird offbeat cartoon called The Numbskulls.
There’s little doubt that this formed part of my formative years, because the moment I thought about it, I remembered individual storylines. I remembered all sorts of crazy things that happened involving The Numbskulls, so I must have been an avid reader of the cartoons at some point along the line.
Today, I had another one of those weird flashbacks to my youth. I was watching Adam Idah play up front, and I texted my mate to say that he’d obviously forgotten his shooting boots. And I had this weird memory of a kid who, when he wore a certain pair of football boots, was transformed into a player capable of outscoring everyone else. It really annoyed me — and two words kept popping into my head: Dead Shot.
So I Googled that and, to my amazement, found that it’s a reference to another cartoon — this one called Billy’s Boots. And it’s pretty much as I remembered it. Some kid finds a pair of powerful old boots that once belonged to a former player called Dead Shot Keen, and they turn him into a star.
Then the writer part of me started to conjure up weird scenarios and article ideas built around the concept, and I’ll admit some of them were pretty harsh on our player, big Adam Idah.
One idea I considered involved a kid who finds a pair of Adam Idah’s boots, and having just stumbled across an ancient chest containing the stories of Dead Shot Keen, he dreams that — like Billy Dane in the stories — they’ll make him a better player.
Three weeks later, he puts them back where he found them because he can’t stop tripping over his own feet.
Funny, right? I could get something out of that.
If it were an Ibrox striker I’d definitely try to. Except that with Big Adam, I just don’t believe it. I’m a fan. Not a gushing, blinded-to-his-faults one who’ll forever cherish the picture on the wall … I just like what I see and what he produces overall. I’m not disheartened by the occasional lapse, the occasional miss, the occasional moment where we all go “Oh man, noooo …”
But today he got a goal, and it was another important one. It came at the end of the half when we’d created a lot of chances and thoroughly deserved to go in front — and he was the guy who was on hand to put the ball in the net.
That is what you want from your strikers. That is all you ask of them at the end of the day. That’s his 20th goal, and he’s heading for that 30 mark I’ve talked about so often in the blogs and on the podcasts.
I’m standing by my man. I make no apology for it. The big guy has provided a very decent goal return. That’s what you ask your strikers to do. As I keep on saying — if he’d scored those goals in a Norwich shirt, we wouldn’t have got him for £9 million. We wouldn’t have got him for twice that.
Is he frustrating to watch at times? Yes — but I’ll tell you, if it wasn’t for the moments of brilliance, he would be infuriating. It’s the flashes of brilliance that prove there’s a player in there, and the reason he is frustrating is because you can see that there’s a player in there. You just want him to produce that stuff more often.
He is still a young player. He’s still got a lot of improving to do, and that’s one of the reasons I’m so happy with his progress so far.
Twenty goals this season. Almost thirty since we signed him in 16 months. The longer this guy plays for us, the more opportunities he gets, the more he works with a top manager like Rodgers — the better we’re going to see him play, the better the player who emerges will be. And I’m very confident in predicting that 12 months from now, there’ll be no doubters left.
Even when it was difficult to watch today, even when he seemed to be spurning chance after chance, I always reminded myself that he is in the positions to score — and that’s the toughest thing in the game to do. That’s what so few players are really, truly capable of. He knows when to make a run. He knows how to find that space. And if some of it was a little mistimed today, then that too shall come.
Congrats to the big guy on getting goal number 20.
That’s an important milestone this season, and it’s the kind of return that, before a ball was kicked, we’d all have considered to be pretty good.
It’s especially meaningful considering that he hasn’t started every game, that he hasn’t played every week, and that we’ve mostly seen a guy coming off the bench this season and still doing it. And he’s still hit the milestone.
A lot more people should be impressed by that than they are.
Billy Dane & Hotshot Hamish….
Remember them well…
Saturday Morning sent to the shops for Daily Record, ( it was a proper paper in those days not an effin fanzine), rolls and Cigarettes no age ban then.
The bonus was you got your pocket money to spend so it was straight over to the magazine rack and the comics section.
Simpler days then.
Like you James I hope he comes through. However today Griffiths, Hooper, Dembele, or Kyogo would have had the ball in the net at least half a dozen times.
I’m going to disagree on Idah. Doesn’t take enough chances. Isn’t strong enough on the ball for a big fella and doesn’t work hard enough for me. Not sure what moments of brilliance he has shown. He has chipped in with a few important goals no doubt, but for me we need better. He isn’t a young man and I’m not sure what more is there for him to develop. Important that Rodgers doesn’t have a lot of faith in him. When Kyogo left he went with Maeda up top and if Jota was fit there is every chance that would still be the case.
Summer will tell. If we bring another striker where will that leave the big man?
Leaving folk like you and Keevins gloating…’ see ah telt youze’. It’s not his fault our invisible CEO, aka Pete’s Glove Puppet, fecked up the Transfer from Norwich, dithered and dallied showing Celtic’s week hand and rising bank balance going into the last days of the Transfer Window.
If he had been brought in at the start of the window for 4/5 Million expectations about him would have been realistic. The £9million tag is down to the Club’s amateur dealings.
For someone who doesn’t get much game time 20 goals for the Season, and some important Season defining goals at that, is a pretty good rate of return. Leave him be, he gets enough shoite from our bitter, biased and bigoted SMSM.
Adam creates a lot of space for others and keeps the CB busy.
Give him the benefit of the doubt as next season he will be a 30 plus goal scorer.
Every decent striker misses chances, it’s the fact he is there to try and take them.
Treble on the way and wouldn’t bet against Adam getting the winner.
Loved Billy’s Boots.
He scored an important goal today, my grump was with the offsides, not just Idah but with Hatate playing that well all the forwards had to do was time their runs and the ball would be there. It was another dominant, convincing display. I was surprised to see Schmeichel back and it was good to see him make a big save at 0-0. We’re nearly back to full strength in time for the final.
He has scored important goals for sure…
Let’s hope he’s got one more left in him – The Scottish Cup Final…
And before 90+1 minutes please !
(Although I’d take it then if it was to be the winner) !
Still not for me atm. Left meada hanging for 2 so needs to either stop being gung ho or develop that peripial Awareness. All chances of that magnitude should find the net , at cl level it will cost you.
I think periphal awareness, like instinct is something you either have naturally or you don’t and never will have. It’s like one of my favourite lines about someone who wants to become an artist (painter), and the accomplished artist who was asked to comment said “if you want to be an artist then you aren’t one” I like Adam Idah and think Brendan values him as a very good back-up striker, regardless of the fee the transparent poker player had to pay for him. The one thing missing that would make him first choice striker can’t be coached or taught, killer instinct!
Ha ha …Billy’s Boots from Tiger & Scorcher comic and Roy of the Rovers! Great memories !
Big Adam is hugely frustrating but has contributed enormously to our double last season and hopefully, treble this year !
The transfer fee is not his issue and certain fans should start getting behind him more !
He’s improving all the time !
Keep it up big man ! HH
At the moment Idah is a good player in the squad, his first full season has been passable without being brilliant. A goal or two in the Cup Final and he would end the season a hero, and set him up for next season. My comic hero’s were from the1950’s, Limpalong Leslie in the Rover, who had great ball control and one leg shorter than the other, this bamboozled opposing defenders. Garrincha of the great Brazil team of the nineteen sixties actually had one leg shorter than the other and he proved this to be true. The other comic hero was the athlete Alf Tupperin in the Hotspur, he went straight from work as a plumber had a fish supper on the way to the athletic meeting and beat all those University types nae bother. Aye them were the days.