There is a lot of spotlight on the Celtic hierarchy this week after the number of controversial headlines that have been doing the rounds this season so far.
Trouble with Brendan Rodgers and the Celtic board resurfaced this week after Michael Nicholson’s strange comments about a Parkhead leak.
The negativity surrounding the Parkhead suits has ramped up and it will be interesting to see how the Celtic Fans Collective move forward now.
One of the biggest bugbears amongst the Celtic supporters is the lack of progression of players from the Academy into the first team.
And here, Darren O’Dea shares how the Celtic top brass treated him in his role as the Player Pathway Manager.
- READ MORE: Peter Grant sends Michael Nicholson a strong message about the Brendan Rodgers Celtic leak
How Celtic’s top brass view the Player Pathway Manager role
Celtic created the Player Pathway Manager position as they viewed the progression of youth into the first team as a priority for the club.
O’Dea held that role for just over a year before moving to Swansea City from Celtic in June and here, he shares how he was supported by the Hoops hierarchy during his time in the position.
O’Dea told The Sunday Post, “Celtic asked me to join them as their under-18 coach and that was the next stage. I then moved up to become B Team Head Coach.
“The coaching was great and enjoyable. The young players at Celtic were first-class.
“An opportunity then came up to become Player Pathway Manager. It was a new and fresh challenge.
“It was something I wanted to challenge myself on and add another string to my bow. I really embraced it and I was all in.
“I was dealing with chief executives and directors of football at top clubs all over Europe.
“I was looking at different set-ups for loan moves for our players. I was making contacts and building relationships all over the game.
“I was seeing the game from a totally different perspective and it was another great learning curve for me.
“It meant I was having meetings and conversations with the Celtic hierarchy. They were brilliant to me.”
Celtic fans will spot the difference between the Parkhead board and Swansea’s
With the Celtic board perceived to be lacking in forward-thinking ambition by a large portion of the Hoops support, O’Dea unwittingly reveals the differences between the Swansea board and his previous employers.
O’Dea continued, “We are a very ambitious football club. The ultimate aim is to get us back into the English Premier League and we are building towards that.
“The owners are great and have been incredibly supportive to Alan and the staff. They are intelligent, dedicated and driven.
“We’ve had some really good results this season and it’s about finding that level of consistency.”
Rodgers himself may well feel undersupported after Celtic’s handling of the Parkhead ‘leak’ story and if only the Parkhead board shared the same European ambition as Swansea’s to reach the Premier League, how different would this season look right now for fans?
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