Darren O'Dear: Celtic birthday tweet has predictable result

By Euan Davidson

February 4, 2021

Former Celtic defender Darren O’Dea turns 34 today.

The ex-Bhoys and Leeds centre-back made an impression at his boyhood club. The Irishman scored the winner against Rangers in a Cup Final [BBC], and looked like a decent prospect. Eventually, though, lack of opportunities meant O’Dea would seek game time elsewhere.

In a nomadic career, O’Dea played in Scotland, England, Canada, Ukraine and India, while making 20 senior appearances for the Republic of Ireland.

The under-18s manager is currently a member of Celtic TV’s commentary team. It makes perfect sense that the club wished him a happy birthday. After all, he’s a member of staff, and largely uncontroversial. Surely, there wouldn’t be much objection to this?

Oh no. You’re way off.

Darren O’Dea birthday lost in Celtic noise

If it’d been any other year, perhaps this birthday announcement could’ve gone without incident. As it is, though, Celtic fans are livid that Neil Lennon is still in charge. With CEO Peter Lawwell set to step down in the summer, almost all of the anger at Celtic is being directed towards the manager.

Add to this Celtic’s odd, arbitrary habit of wishing ex-players and staff a happy birthday on Twitter, and it was a recipe for a social media blunder.

Just to be clear; it’s not the social media team’s fault. All things considered, they do an excellent job under difficult circumstances. I genuinely feel awful for the staff that are having to wade through thousands of “Lennon out” messages.

You’ll see what we mean here:

For what it’s worth: happy birthday, Darren O’Dea.

Meanwhile, is this returning Celtic ace a guaranteed starter?