Adam Idah

He’s the Irish Tony Watt for me. Talented young player, lazy, thinks he’s good, career steadily dwindling club after club (loans tbf) steadily worse clubs, but at 22 now, a move to a European league and was very successful for the team he was at.


But really, I’d not want him on ability never mind mates. A quick google just says he’s been in a photo ‘snapped’ with Irish mobsters. Is there anymore than that?

 

Nowhere near what we need.

 

A “scapegoat” for the woes of a club in southern England but a hero on the green side of Glasgow, it’s been a testing few months for Adam Idah.

And the Cork native says he’s emerged stronger from a challenging spell, which threatened to derail a very promising career at one stage.

With two goals in his last two games – the winner for Celtic in the Scottish Cup final and then the opening goal in Ireland’s 2-1 defeat of Hungary, which ended a 14-game unbeaten run from the Hungarians – Idah is in a good place as he prepares for the final test of the season, away to Portugal tomorrow night.

Decisions await; he’s contracted to Norwich for another four years, and while everyone at Celtic would love for his loan spell to be made into a long-term deal, as far as he knows, he reports back for pre-season with Norwich next month, a new manager to impress as Daniel Wagner (the boss who loaned him out to Celtic) was sacked. For now, he’s happy to be wanted.

“I never doubted myself once in my career. I’ve always been confident and I’m glad I got to show that this season,” Idah says, speaking from a quiet corner of the Irish team hotel in Porto.

“It’s difficult for a young person when they go into a first-team and when you score a hat-trick, there are high expectations on you. I’m not saying Norwich was bad, I’ve obviously had lots of good times with Norwich

When we’re going through that period of not getting promoted and maybe we’ve lost a few games that maybe we shouldn’t have, it’s quite difficult. Once you get stuck in that little hole, it’s quite hard to get out.

“Overall, I have enjoyed Norwich. It’s the club that brought me up and where I started my career. I can only say good things about them. This is part of the football culture. You do get a lot of lulls in your football career, and probably the last two years, I was having those lulls.”

The move to Celtic revived his spirits after a tough time at Carrow Road. “For me, going to that new environment was unbelievable for me and to have everyone behind you and supporting you is probably what I needed,” he admits.

“I struggled a bit at Norwich, probably on the back end of a lot of things, with the way the team was going, and I was probably the scapegoat for that. Going to Celtic really brightened it up for me and gave me a lot of confidence. For a striker to have that confidence is amazing.”

Not many players would choose to use that scapegoat word, but Idah (right) is happy to expand on what he means. “I just think the fans and the media, it felt that anything I was doing was wrong. If I scored a goal, it wasn’t as good as the last time. If I didn’t play minutes, I’m not good enough. Just stuck in that hole. It probably happens to everyone in football, not just me


It was just unfortunate that I was in it at that period,” he says, pointing out that he was also accused of being injury-prone. People say I’ve had a lot of injuries, but I’ve only had two injuries.

“I don’t know where this has come from – that I’m very injury-prone. This is probably the media and the fans saying I’ve always been injured, but I’ve had two injuries, two contact injuries and I’ve never pulled a muscle in my career. That’s the strange one for me – to be hearing that I’m always injured and it’s not the case.”

Idah was one of the foundation stones of the Stephen Kenny era with Ireland; an early vote of confidence when Idah started in Kenny’s first two games in 2020. But international football was also a struggle, with Idah playing 15 games without a goal before his first, in a 3-0 win over Gibraltar, with shades of John Aldridge and his goal drought with Ireland before the goals flooded in.

“It took me a long time to get a goal. The squad here has been fantastic, and right now, I would like to help the team as much as I can whether that’s scoring goals, assisting or doing my part in the game. Getting the goals now is bringing more to my game, and it’s the same at club level. I’ve always wanted to score lots of goals. Hopefully, I can carry on doing that,” he says.

His Hungary goal set up a win, but his strike against Rangers was the only goal of the game as Celtic landed the double. “It’s quite hard to put it into words. It was an amazing feeling. To get the last-minute winner was fantastic and to do it against Rangers made it even better,” he says.


I don’t think you even think about those things, so to do that in such a manner was amazing, especially in a cup final. Celtic is a massive club and built off the fans. Playing games like that and scoring the winner, I’m sure the fans will appreciate it and I appreciate them just as much.”

Portugal tomorrow night pose a different threat to Hungary, with Portuguese pride likely to be bruised after a home loss to Croatia on Saturday.

“They are going to be up for it as the Euros is such a big tournament and they all want to be ready for it, but we’re going to be up for it too. Although it’s a friendly, it’s another opportunity for us. None of us want to go into a game and lose when you’re playing for Ireland. We want to win every game regardless of whether it is in a competition or a friendly. Both teams will be up for it,” Idah says.

“We have gone through a tough period and international is difficult when you have four or five camps a year and there is youth coming in and out. It’s difficult to get it going, but that’s the start of it now. We want that mentality for every game, to win every game. The win against Hungary was massive for us and we want to push on and win more.”

 

Norwich trying to behave like overlords over this transfer idah did good up here but was poor in championship Johnstone went to championship on loan and rips it up …. But we are the ones that have to use a player swap and money

It should be player for player


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Celtic’s move for Adam Idah could be delayed with new Norwich boss Johannes Hoff Thorup keen to evaluate him in pre-season, sources have told Football Insider.

The Dane was appointed at the end of May and is now ready to give the 23-year-old a chance to impress at Carrow Road

Idah impressed on loan at Celtic in the second half of the 2023-24 campaign and a well-placed source has told Football Insider that he is a “top target” for Brendan Rodgers and his recruitment staff


However, sources say the Glasgow giants “won’t wait forever” for Norwich to make up their minds on allowing the Republic of Ireland international to leave.

Rodgers is keen to strike early deals this summer, allowing him to better implement his plans for the Scottish Premiership and Champions League.


Idah made 19 Celtic appearances during his time at Parkhead, starting in seven of those outings


He contributed massively to the club’s league and cup double, notching nine goals and two assists – including the winner against Rangers in the Scottish Cup final last month.

The 23-year-old has now amassed 25 caps for Ireland and scored in his last appearance against Hungary


Idah made 34 appearances in the first half of the 2023-24 campaign for Norwich, scoring seven goals and notching one assist.

He is under contract with the Norfolk club until June 2028.

 

We can't wait forever. Also wouldn't be surprised if he gets talked into staying by their new manager.

But this is also Football insider who write alot of guff

 

Tbf, if you were a new manager and you'd seen how good he was here, you'd want to keep him..

Knew this could be an issue.

 

Not looking good.

 

All about not having one single target but alternatives too. Ideally pursuing multiple targets already.

Sure the Director of Football has this all in hand ...

 

You only have to look at his comments about Norwich and their fans alone to know he wants a change of scenery..

 

Still early...

 

Or the word Norwich ..

 

Doing well to put some pressure on the Portuguese defence … Liam scales been rabbit in headlights with his passing


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Only saw about the last 15 mins, but he's been bullied by the centre half's everytime .

 

The commentator is choking for a pknfor portugal,I actually think it was a good call didn't look like a foul.

 

They took off Pepe because idah was bullying him

O’Shea then took idah off in second half as he was running out of steam


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He was * but got very little service or support. Wouldn’t take too much notice of it.

 

Fair dos, had missed start. What I saw every challenge he went into was on his *, don't think Pepe was any of them though.

That Blackburn player again, not impressed again, and seemingly he is playing in his natural position as well.

 

Took off Pep because he's 42 years old and got a knock.. Idah got nowhere * near him apart from kicking him to give him the "knock"

He missed an easy opportunity too and failed to lift his head and find a player free in the box, something he really really needs to work on