The Celtic captain’s support for Idah was superbly well timed.

Yesterday, Callum McGregor gave another interview in which he expressed his frustration at how last season ended—and how he and other players now intend to use that pain as fuel for the campaign ahead.

I wrote about this last week when McGregor first said it, so I don’t need to go over it again, except to say this: it’s good to hear him reiterate the point. And it’s good to hear that other members of the squad feel the same way. It’s exactly the right attitude.

Callum’s was a much more wide-ranging interview than that.

One of the topics he wanted to talk about was the upcoming friendly against Cork City—a match where big Adam Idah will be back in Ireland and looking to make headlines. I’d be tempted, in Rodgers’ shoes, to give Osmand a chance that day, to see what our new boy has got. But I suspect Brendan won’t do that. The manager will keep the faith with Adam. And in some ways, that’s the right call.

Adam was one of the players Callum spoke about at length.

He talked about how, in his opinion, Idah is a player with so much talent that he quite literally has the world at his feet. Now, I know there are some anti-Rodgers snipers in our support—some of them with pretty big megaphones—who, if not outright savaging Idah, have at least been determined to undermine his cause. Because it suits their agenda of undermining Brendan Rodgers.

I suspect some of these people want to use Brendan as a deflection from those who are really responsible for us having had to pay £9 million for the big Irishman. Everyone knows where this blog stands on that issue. But the central contention from these critics is that we’ll never recoup that money. And I never cease to be amazed at how little these people actually understand.

We’ve already recouped the transfer fee.

If Adam Idah hadn’t been a Celtic player at the tail end of the season before last, we don’t win the domestic double. If Adam Idah isn’t on hand to put the ball past the goalkeeper that night at Celtic Park against Young Boys, we don’t qualify for the second stage of the Champions League. We don’t secure a financial reward that paid the transfer fee for him.

So what does it matter if we don’t sell him on for £9 million-plus in the future? Is that all these people care about—whether we make a profit on the guy?

Honestly. For the goals he’s scored—not just the number of them, but their importance—he’s shown that the outlay was worth it. And again, I say this as someone who wouldn’t have paid that fee for him. But he’s earned it. He’s justified it. He’s made that money back, and then some. And if he stays at Celtic long enough, he’ll be the next player to hit 100 goals.

He currently sits on 29 goals for the club—29 goals in 18 months.

That is not bad at all. And I agree with McGregor: he has all the talent in the world, and he has the attributes to be a top-class striker. And how do we know that? Because he already has three goals in the Champions League. He’s scored at Ibrox. He’s scored at Hampden. In massive, do-or-die games, he has shown composure and discipline—and he is getting better the more he plays.

Let’s be honest: if he were still playing for Norwich and had scored 29 goals in the last 18 months, and we came in to buy him, we wouldn’t get near him with £9 million. That wouldn’t even get them on the phone.

There are probably people at that club right now who think it’s insane they sold him in the first place. They could have sold him to a Premier League side for three times that fee—and that’s not an exaggeration.

Players who’ve done much less than Idah have gone for much bigger money.

This is a big season for him. But it was great to hear the captain speak in his defence and acknowledge his skillset. Players need to know that the people around them—in the dressing room, on the pitch—value their contribution and understand what they bring to the team. There’s no doubt Idah is feeling the love right now. And he should be.

Nor should anyone think that the calls from Celtic fans for the club to go out and sign another striker are any kind of slight on Idah.

It’s not because some of us think he’s not good enough. It’s because what we envision is three very good frontmen competing for spots. Don’t be surprised if one of Rodgers’ little tactical shifts involves playing two up front at times this season. You can absolutely see how that would appeal to him.

Big Adam just needs some love and support. He’s only been here 18 months, guys. And if someone had said to us on the day he signed on loan that 18 months later, he would’ve scored 29 goals—including three in the Champions League, one in the Scottish Cup final, and a goal at Ibrox to wreck their title chances—there isn’t a single one of us who wouldn’t have happily shelled out that transfer fee.

Callum’s support for him was the right thing, and it came at the right time. Adam Idah is going to be a huge player for us in the season ahead. He is going to be one of the reasons why the campaign is successful. A very big part of the reason.

And our captain knows it—even if some people in the stands don’t quite grasp that yet.