ADAM IDAH: CELTIC’S LATEST VICTIM OF MEDIA SMEAR CAMPAIGNS
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- Apr 19
- 3 min read
We’ve all done daft things when we were younger.
Luckily for most of us, these indiscretions don’t usually end up plastered across newspapers.
We certainly don’t expect what we do privately, in our free time, to be the subject of direct questions to our boss at a press conference.
And yet, it seems Adam Idah is considered fair game by the media, and an exception to this rule. His only crime, it seems, is that he plays for Celtic and decided to have a few too many drinks on his day off.
Adam Idah’s Celtic Struggles Make Him an Easy Target
I’ve seen the footage and it is absolutely harmless.
All it shows is a daft young man, doing what daft young men do: being hit with the consequences of having a few drinks too many or too quickly.
He didn’t do anything illegal, and no one was hurt, apart from, maybe his own pride.
I’m reminded of an expression a friend of mine once used, when someone at his birthday party ended up in a similar state.
This other friend had arrived a couple of hours late to the party.
As such he was drinking too quickly, in an attempt to catch up with everyone else’s “half-cut” state at that time, and proceeded to overdo it.
As my friend put it to him the next day: “Mate, you jumped on the catch-up train and went way past your stop.”
This is normal. It’s a thing young people in all walks of life do every weekend. So long as it doesn’t become a habit, it’s ultimately harmless.
It’s part of learning; it’s part of growing up. It certainly doesn’t warrant a story in national newspapers.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was smart enough to see it for what it was, and confirmed he had spoken to Adam Idah about it.
He also emphasized that it was Idah who called him about it first, and that the incident in question took place during the player’s time off.
If anything, I interpret this as the manager complimenting the player’s maturity in choosing to face the situation directly.
The tabloids didn’t get the juicy quote and damning indictment of Idah they were clearly fishing for. But the Daily Mirror went ahead and ran a totally misleading headline anyway.
The Mirror led with the Headline: Brendan Rodgers issues angry response to footage of Celtic star.
Now, what do you think when you read that headline? The clear assumption is that Rodgers was raging at Idah and had made that known to the player in strong terms.
However, if you actually watched the press conference, that’s not what happened at all.
Rodgers said he was saddened that someone chose to film the incident and post it on social media.
He wasn’t angry with Adam Idah, he was angry that a Celtic player’s privacy had been invaded, during his personal time, by someone looking to score social media cred.
And by raising this non-issue at a press conference, the media have given the clown who made the video the very notoriety they so desperately crave.
Adam Idah is an easy target for such things just now. If there's one thing the cowards in the Scottish Mainstream Media love to do, it is bully someone when their down.
Idah has struggled to make an impact this season. And he came with a very high price tag, though as I’ve said before, that’s something he personally had no control over.
And ultimately, I think Idah’s lack of goals and game time this year is more down to the phenomenal form of Daizen Maeda, than to any great failing on Idah’s own part.
I think, in the end, Adam Idah will be fine, and he will prove his worth to Celtic in due course.
But even if he doesn’t, he should still have the freedom to go for a few beers in peace without worrying that the aftermath will end up on the news.
That’s a basic human right to privacy we all deserve. Adam Idah didn’t choose to forfeit that right when he signed for Celtic.
The hacks in our tabloid press have no right to invade player’s private lives like this.
