GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - FEBRUARY 15: Adam Idah of Celtic celebrates scoring his team's second goal during the William Hill Premiership match between Celtic FC and Dundee United FC at Celtic Park on February 15, 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Later today, I’ll be doing a full piece on why Russell Martin has already screwed up royally by pulling the Crazy Leader act in front of the players. In stark contrast, Rodgers was far more measured in the aftermath of our game.
He knew the performance wasn’t up to scratch—but he praised the players anyway. He recognised that one particular performance was going to draw a lot of heat, and he poured cold water on it straight away.
It was his sterling defence of our big Irish striker, Adam Idah.
Idah needed that. Because he didn’t have a great day, and everyone knows it. He needed it because he would have been an easy target for the fans had the game ended in a dull 0–0 draw. The focus wouldn’t have been on how weak we looked in the attacking third—it would have been on how little Idah has done to “justify” the transfer fee.
That story just goes on and on and on and will not die. As though Idah himself is responsible for what we paid for him. I’ll never understand how people can bang on about a player not being worth the money as though he personally wrote the cheque and signed the deal.
The focus on Idah, Engels, and Trusty is all about undermining the manager—and I won’t hear any argument to the contrary.
I love the way the manager is the one being blamed for the fees, even when we know full well that the price we paid for Idah was inflated due to our board’s dithering. The £6 million for Trusty is standard for a Premier League centre-back, and the money for Engels is perfectly reasonable considering his age and profile.
Why is it somehow acceptable to criticise spending £20 million on three players—which in the modern game is nothing—while making endless excuses for a similar amount squandered on eight players the summer before? At least these three made valuable contributions last season.
At least they each command one wage. I don’t even want to think about how much has been paid in wages to players who sat in the stands most weeks. Those who want to bash the manager while letting the board off scot-free need to wise up.
That said, Idah should be doing more. That’s got nothing to do with his transfer fee. He’s leading the line for Celtic now, not kicking his heels in the Norwich reserves. And if he really is going to become the top-class forward some of us believe he’s more than capable of being, then he has to apply himself more.
He has to make a bigger effort. He has to learn how to tune out the noise around him—because it’s clearly affecting him. And the best players learn early on that you simply have to ignore that stuff and get on with the job.
I’ve defended Idah because I don’t think it’s fair to judge him by the fee. I don’t believe it’s fair to say he’s not worth the money.
In fact, if you were buying a striker from the English Premier League who came in and scored the goals Idah has—in such a short space of time—you’d expect to pay that sort of fee. Cup final goals. Big goals at Ibrox. Goals in the Champions League—including two against a Premier League side.
£9 million would be a more than reasonable fee for a player who could do that.
But I’d rather not talk about the transfer fee at all. I want to focus on the player’s contribution to the team. For too many people, this is about money—and the bean counter brigade, the board apologists, love it when we focus on the money.
That transfer fee has already been repaid. It was repaid with the goals that won the league. It was repaid at Hampden when he secured the double. It was repaid in the Champions League moment against Young Boys, when he went one-on-one with the keeper and—unlike Kyogo—kept himself onside doing it.
I’ve defended the guy to the hilt. And I’ll continue doing so for as long as he contributes, for as long as he keeps putting the ball in the net.
But he has to do a lot more than he did at the weekend—because that was one of his poorest games in a Celtic shirt. And the more games like that he has, the easier it becomes for his critics to suggest he doesn’t have what it takes to lead the line for our club, and never will. Rodgers knows that. That’s why Rodgers defended him.
He’s at the club he dreamed of playing for. He’s scored big goals. Those of us who don’t let the transfer fee affect how we view him will support him vocally—and aggressively. More importantly, he has a manager who sees what he can become, believes in him, and wants to see him realise that potential.
It’s all laid out for him: 60,000 fans, Champions League football, a chance to win trophies every year. It’s the dream.
But more and more, he looks like a guy wandering through a nightmare.
He needs to find that mental strength. He needs to keep believing in himself. He needs to keep improving—even if it’s only in small steps.
He’s young. Time is still on his side. But patience in the stands is starting to run out. For a lot of fans, it already has. Because a lot of people made their minds up the moment they heard the fee. That’s not fair—but it is reality.
He can let that weight crush him… or he can rise above it.
And in the absence of a marquee striker signing, the number one spot is his to lose.
He needs to make the most of it while he’s got it.
There are danger signs though James. Caught offside at least times in first half which should poor awareness of his surroundings. My main gripe though is with his hold up play or lack of it should I say. Wee fancy one touch flicks aint getting it done. I thought his height and strength would give us the option to fire balls at him hold it up and bring our mid into play quicker but it looks like we are over playing it and end up saturating the middle of the park just outside the opponents box and struggle to break down as a consequence.
Forget the fee. He’s not good enough, never will be. How you can’t see that is beyond me. Maeda is the best striker at the club, but we can’t move him from the wing just now. We also know Kenny isn’t good enough. Yamada? Who knows?
I have stuck by him but after yesterday its the same show no matter who feeds him and to gget caught offside on a parked bus? Got me beat james.
I mentioned this before its really time now to drop him back into the mids and devvelop him as the brute midfielder we need badly,he has pwer pace and a pass, good heart and hustle if not a mid thrn play him in the pocket just in front and in behind a genuine out and out striker a griffith type and watch thosec40 goals come back
The guy won’t get better with people moaning at him. Support him, if he turns out not to be good enough to be our 1st striker then so be it but ffs give him a chance. He has done well at times. And Maeda isn’t just the best striker at Celtic, he is the best player, harsh comparing them.
He’s a plank of wood. Birds are nesting in him. He should be nowhere near the Celtic No 9 jersey. His first touch is terrible. If he doesnt have a good first touch at 23, he will never have one. Time to sign Lubo’s pal David Strelec. Now, he is a No9.
James, I agree with most of what you usually say but I can’t get to grips with your obsessional backing for Idah. The guy is absolutely rotten. He needs 3 touches to control anything and as he showed on Saturday again he is definitely not a natural goalscorer. Personally I am not even sure he is good enough as a back up. Also Yang should be nowhere near a Celtic jersey. He is pathetic.
The man sitting beside me in the stand summed up Idah beautifully.
He was born offside!
I’ve seldom seen a player who is so often offside and takes an age to get back onside.
Sorry, James. He’s simply not good enough for me.
James, his fee aside, he isn’t cutting it for us. As has been said is offside far more than he should be. When the ball breaks and we are on the defence he is often seen walking back while his team mates are scrambling back into position. Yes, he does score goals, but given the chances we create then he should. He also misses chances and doesn’t get into good scoring opportunities. His touch is poor at times and for a big guy lacks body strength. At one point yesterday he received a throw in in St Mirrems box and was.pushed back so far he almost played it back to the keeper. Any solid forward would shield and hold it up, at worst draw a free kick. If we are judging him just on goals then there is a striker across the city scoring more goals and he isn’t someone we would sign. We need a striker who is going to strike fear into defenders, sadly Idah seems to be too easy to defend against for many teams.
He does have attributes but, unfortunately, because of the price paid for him, he is caught up the cross-fire of the apparent manager v the board war. He needs support – that’s what “supporters” are supposed to provide. If not you might be undermining the manager and assisting the view that his judgement is not to be trusted.
Feel sorry for Idah. Celtic continue to probe and try cute give and go’s at the edge of the box. A big powerful striker like Idah needs crosses coming in which with Celtic doesn’t happen often and when they do cross it, the quality is usually pish. We do not play to his strengths. He can win balls in the air but has no one to head down to like Sutton had with Henrik
Sorry James.
His first touch is hopeless and his second touch is a foul.
Offside always and very lazy getting back on side.
Yes he has scored some good goals but sorry he is not a Celtic first choice striker.
He plays like a guy under real pressure to prove himself , that’s the reason he’s getting caught offside by making his runs a fraction early. Being under pressure isn’t ideal for a striker, the last thing a striker needs is a lack of confidence. He’s proved against Villa and in other big games also during his loan period with us, when he definitely helped win us the League in a very close run title race that he has a nose for a goal.
At Celtic Park you need a certain mentality and when you’re going through a bad spell, especially as a striker, you have to blot out the noise. I think he’s finding it hard to do that, maybe it’s about mentality, and only he can sort that.
I try not to vocally criticise a player going through a bad spell, as experience tells me it never helps the player, especially a striker.
This a big season for Adam I hope he can bag a few goals in the next few games, and kick on from there. The fee should mean nothing, Norwich played a holding game and snatched a few extra million from us at the last minute.
I think there is a real issue here for a club like Celtic to pay £26m for three players.
Two of them are on the bench and the other one is struggling .
No wonder the board are being cautious.
Sign two wingers and play Maeda through the middle.
Idah is back up at best.
HH
Looking for a bit of help, cant see article as advert video to watch first gets half way through and kicks me off says check internet connection .
That’s 2 out of last three articles this has happened anyone help?
Idah reminds me a lot of Samaras. You can see there is real quality there but he is very much a confidence player. I also never like playing a target man as a loan striker. Sutton, Hartson, Vennegoor, etc wouldn’t have contributed nearly as much as they did if they didn’t have a partner beside them. I’d love to see Idah play with Yamada and see how well they link up together. Idah is taking a lot of stick about yesterday but Maeda missed 2 absolute sitters and nobody mentions those. Its really starting to look like this will be our squad for this season which is beyond disgraceful but that gives Idah plenty of game time to step up.
“Those who want to bash the manager while letting the board off scot-free need to wise up.”
And those who want to bash the board whole letting the manager off scot-free also need to wise.up James.
Brendan wanted Idah , Trusty, Engels amd Bernardo signed last summer as his major signings (irrelevant of how much more we ended up paying for them than necessary) and yesterday only one of them started our opening game of the new season amd that’s because we haven’t replaced Kyogo as you keep banging on about! Yes Idah has scored important goals but they were ALL in his 6month loan spell when he used to cone on with 20mins to go when the opposition were tiring. Name ONE goal last season he scored that won the game. Idah has two big issues – one, he’s simply not reliable enough to be the No1 striker at a club like Celtic and two, we don’t play to his strengths so why Brendan signed him I have no idea. He would actually do better under Ange’s style where we fired balls into the box first time every time.
We need a actual guaranteed no9 starter (no idea if Yamada is him) but it isn’t and never will be Idah.
Once they’re in the door the fee doesn’t matter, what he contributes on the pitch is all that matters. That game should’ve been a strikers dream, we got so many good crosses in and Idah wasn’t near any of them. He’s got to learn where to be because Tierney will getting the nod those crosses in so will Maeda etc. Maybe Yamada isn’t fully fit yet since Kenny came on but Yamada won’t have to do much to get that place unless big Adam can get going against Aberdeen. His positioning and his first touch are questionable.
Remember when big James ” the guru and know it all “, exclaimed in many articles, that Idah WAS & IS Celtics mana from irish heaven? He scored 20 goals! Two against the mighty Aston Villa! The ” Bonnie Tyler HERO! ” for our double during his epic and heroic loan spell. How dare we look into those big dozey Idah eyes and think, ” hmm, perhaps big James the guru is wrong… ” HOW VERY DARE YOU!
You in pain there kid ? Chortle
I’ll give the guy a few games in the new season to make my decision , he really didn’t get any easy chances down to sts composure and game plan , ????
Actually i’m gonna furkin stand up for Adam , the side were very poor yesterday 2 corners in the first half ? give the guy a break
Big Big Big season definitely looming for Adam Idah…
Very much hope he succeeds of course –
Time will tell I guess !
James, I think you are forgetting those of us out there that wanted Idah to sign, didn’t care about the transfer fee (other than Celtic paying more due to their dithering) but can see he’s not doing it (for whatever reason). I desperately want him to do well but he’s simply not. We’re not all obsessed about the transfer fee.
I’m with you mate, I agree he’s not doing enough. He needs to step up.