Darren O’Dea is taking charge of Celtic’s u-18 squad with Stephen McManus moving up to assist Tommy McIntyre with the reserve squad on a permanent basis.
McManus and Damien Duff joined the coaching staff in January but Brendan Rodgers’ overnight decision to dedicate his life to Leicester City meant instant changes with Duff moving up to join the first team and McManus splitting his time between the u-18 and reserve squad.
With O’Dea coming in to the u-18 squad from that role at Motherwell all of the vacancies have been filled with Michael O’Halloran in charge of the u-16 squad.
I am Incredibly honoured to be given this role. It’s one of the proudest moments of my footballing career. I can’t wait to get started ???? https://t.co/CvatUF6v9j
— Darren O’Dea (@odea_darren) September 15, 2019
At the age of 32 O’Dea gave up playing with Dundee at the end of last season to move into coaching although he did sign a playing deal with Lowland League side East Kilbride which has been cancelled.
O’Dea joined Celtic straight from school in Dublin and battled his way into the first team from a youth squad that included Paul Caddis, Scott Cuthbert, Simon Ferry and Michael McGlichey.
Despite the promise of that squad O’Dea was the only one to make an impact on the first team squad but in 2012 he left Celtic enjoying spells with Leeds, Blackpool, Ipswich and stints for clubs in Canada, Ukraine and India before spending three years with Dundee.
The former Home Farm prospect won 20 full Ireland caps and was a member of the 2012 European Championship squad.
