Matt O’Riley has made quite the impression at Celtic already. On the park he’s a sharp thinking playmaker with an eye for a pass and an ability to impact a game with one and two touches that some of his peers in Scottish football would struggle to achieve with six.
Meanwhile off the park he’s presented himself just as immaculately – as a thoughtful, intelligent and considered orator when speaking to the media. He’s the kind of lad you listen to and think he’s a credit to himself and his parents.
Now in a superb interview in The Athletic, we’ve been given an insight to the Mum and Dad who helped mould Matt O’Riley into the man with the experienced head on young shoulders we see today.
And the parental influence has moved lock stock and barrel from sunny Surrey to the damper climes of Glasgow, as Dad, Dom, and Mum, Gitte, exchange sunny evenings in the beer gardens of Thames Ditton – a tough pull to leave as your writer can attest to – for the bustling cosmopolitan West End attractions of Scotland’s Dear Green Place. And Glasgow seems to agree with Dom O’Riley already.
“We don’t live in England anymore. We are now Glaswegians! For the foreseeable future. I’ve got to say, I love it here.”
And a settling into the city has been helped by the start to his Celtic career Matt O’Riley has made and a support who they admit to being positive about their son and his performances whenever their paths have crossed, as well as being blown away by the colour and the noise they create inside Celtic Park – especially the Glasgow Derby ‘skelping last month.
“It was unbelievable,” says Gitte. “There were no away fans, but it was like those guys, but times 20, everywhere.” Said Dom pointing to the North Curve.
It probably shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone the family have moved north, as through the player’s career the family have watched him everywhere. From a youngster attracting pre-academy interest at Brentford and Chelsea, before training with Reading, to the beginning of his professional career at Fulham.
Then of course came the leap of faith O’Riley made to reject Fulham’s contract offer, train with his dad during the pandemic, before plumping for the move to MK Dons that soon saw him catch the eye of Celtic and lead to the family heading north of the border.
And it seems the decision to leave Fulham, according to his dad was a hard one, but one clearly now vindicated.
“He played against Southampton in the League Cup. He was the best outfield player — we know that because clubs started ringing up and talking about him then. But not picking him for the game after showed that he wasn’t part of Scott’s (Parker) plans.
“Maybe if there had been a regime change earlier, it would have been a different story. For Matt, he was very sad — all he ever wanted to do was play for Fulham. I think most people who watched him have said, and since has been proved, how on earth did they let him go?”
“I have to give him credit, his mental strength was better than ours; he’s done it really well.”
And it didn’t take long for Matt to make his mind up that Celtic was the next challenge for him. In fact, it took all of five minutes talking to Ange Postecoglou to convince O’Riley Celtic Park was the perfect move, as Dom told the Athletic’s Peter Rutzler.
“Before signing, Matt said, ‘I’m going to have a chat with the manager first’. He had a list of questions and then came out five minutes later and said ‘Yep, I’m going. I just know. He answered every question before I asked it’. He’s so happy about it.”
Watching and listening to Matt O’Riley it’s hard to believe he’s only 21 years old, but it looks like the distractions that has seen many a promising youngster side-lined over the years won’t be a problem for Matt O’Riley in Scotland. On the one hand he seems far too focused on maximising his undoubted potential, meanwhile on the other, mum and dad aren’t too far away.
Niall J
