Matt O'Riley

Gilmour is timid? That’s a mad opinion for me, he’s tenacious as *, doesn’t back out any tackles, he’s just small and not strong, not weak either but definitely not strong.

The glimpses of him and Calmac together for Scotland they were very unScottish class on the ball, pass and move constantly between each other and naturally covered the other.

I’d love to somehow manage to get him. Won’t happen but, he was coming into the first team more and more towards the end of the season and noise about him over there is they’re expecting big things next season. If he doesn’t do that, then next summer I would try. Don’t think he’d want to but, Rangers fans think of him like he played 500 games for them for some reason, not immediately do the bunk on a free. He’s like there Feruz for me, but they think of him like he had a great Rangers career. And he knows that, signing here, it’s a lifetime of hassle. And he would have many options across Europe and England. I would love it but. I really rate him but he hasn’t put it together consistently in his career. He needs to do that soon.

 

No chance he comes here. His mum wouldn't touch the green bits of a Norwich scarf when he played there, which is sad and funny at the same time.

 

* sake.

Aye, he wouldn’t touch us with a bargepole. If he moves agains, he’ll not be short of options, in better leagues, that won’t result in family members disowning him and half a country wanting him buried. Good player but

 

Didn't he also refuse to do a huddle at Norwich?
I know politics shouldn't come into it, but if you and your family are that rancid then I don't think they are welcome here.

 

Rings a bell. Sad really.

 

The whites think about class 2000 to strengthen the midfield. The Danish midfielder is also liked by Roma and Atalanta and last season he was also sought after by Napoli



After being followed by Atalanta, Roma and Napoli, Juventus is also interested in Matt O'Riley. The Bianconeri club has not yet made an official offer but only a survey and its purchase is linked to possible midfield outings such as that of Douglas Luiz.

O'Riley is a midfielder with great technique and for this reason he can also play as a quarterback. The Dane in the 2024/25 season played 21 Premier League games with Brighton, where he managed to score 2 goals and provide 3 assists.

 

More dosh incoming

 

He would tear it up for them

 

To sit doing absolutely nothing in the bank

 

Making interest that's worth more than winning our leagues prize money

 

Probably no coincidence Italian clubs are interested in him. Would suit the pace of that league nicely.

 

In an exclusive interview, former Celtic star Matt O’Riley opens up to The Celtic Way on the Brendan Rodgers relationship that transformed his game, the success he enjoyed in Scotland, his injury fightback at Brighton & Hove Albion, and why living in the moment is his guiding principle on and off the pitch


Matt O'Riley is not your ordinary, everyday footballer. His answers to questions are always well thought out, and every word is pored over to make sure he has not shortchanged the interviewer.

He is intelligent, smart and a deep thinker. His fluidity in discourse mirrors the way he schemes to produce goals, creativity and assists from the midfield area of the park.

O'Riley lit up Scottish football for the best part of two-and-a-half years after being signed by Ange Postecoglou in January 2022 from MK Dons for the bargain sum of £1.5 million. Celtic had unearthed a gem of a footballer.

He went on to win three Scottish Premiership titles, two Scottish Cups and one Scottish League Cupduring his stint at the club, sweeping up a host of club player of the year awards in addition.

It is an association that holds meaning for the midfielder a year after his £25m move to Brighton & Hove Albion.

"I still follow all the games," he tells The Celtic Way. "Even though I don't post that much on social media, I'm still watching every single game and trying to keep tabs on them.




I'm still in contact with people. It's hard in football to keep contact with everybody because it moves so fast and things change, but I did make some good friends up there, and I'm still in contact with a lot of staff at Celtic, which has been nice."

The switch to Glasgow was initially a culture shock for O'Riley, but he is adamant his spell in Scotland has primed him for the pressures ahead in his career, which remains full of promise and potential at the age of 24.

"I think playing for Celtic prepares you for most things," he explains. "Just in terms of the demands, and the pressure you're under for every single game, as you have to win every game, otherwise it's a disaster.

"It's quite different here at Brighton, although the culture here is that we still want to win every game. I think playing for Celtic prepared me for that in terms of the kind of ruthless approach that you need to win every game, and I think that's helped a lot.

"Going from MK Dons to Celtic was a big enough step already, but then just when you get up to Glasgow, you don't realise the magnitude of the club, you don't realise how many fans there are and how much people do care.

"I think you have to adjust immediately because if you don't, then it's pretty much impossible to do well. It was quite easy for me to settle in at Celtic just because there were so many good people at the club.

"It's not an easy place to do well in, and it is very tough. If you do well there, then you can be very grateful.

"When you leave a club like Celtic on such good terms after having so much success and so many good times, it would be almost criminal of me not to be a fan."







Becoming a Celtic goalscoring machine
While Celtic as an institution was clearly a positive influence, Brendan Rodgers as an individual has also proven pivotal in his career trajectory.

O'Riley credits his former manager for providing him with the environment that helped him become a goalscoring machine during his final season in Glasgow.

The Irishman went on record as stating that a player of O'Riley's undeniable talent had to chip in with more goals in August 2023.

Rodgers challenged the midfielder with these words after a 3-1 Scottish Premiership victory at Pittodrie: "Matt is a wonderful footballer, he is ambitious, he wants to be better and improve. I like him a lot.

"I think he is a really intelligent footballer, he is a top professional, he prepares his body well, and he prepares his life well, he wants to do well, and he sets his standards high every day to be better.

"When I looked at his numbers and everything else, I said to him he needed to score more goals, as he didn't do it enough. I was looking at Matt's stats from last season, and his first goal was in February. You can't have that talent and be waiting that long."

O'Riley then proceeded to greatly improve on his previous season's output when he chalked up an amazing 19 goals and 18 assists before departing for England.




The Danish international believes that the seismic shift in his game all came about because Rodgers placed his total faith in him, while the player also shed his own constant need for validation and reassurance to be a certain type of player.

O'Riley explains, "When Brendan came in, I felt like he helped me in terms of just giving me that extra bit of trust.

"So whether that was playing more minutes, even though Ange [Postecoglou] still played me, Brendan was playing me full games every week and naturally, that helped get me some rhythm. From that you build a foundation.

“The assists were always there. In terms of creating chances, that was always something that I was very comfortable doing. I'm just a player who likes to play for the team. I like setting my teammates up, and I get a lot of joy from doing that. Of course, I love scoring and helping the team, but it doesn't matter whether it's an assist or a goal.

"With Brendan, it was something he said to me, he wanted me to score more goals, and I think just from giving me that platform to play on, the goals kind of just came as a result. By the end, like in the least arrogant way, it just felt quite easy to score because I wasn't really trying.

"From a mental aspect, that was probably the main shift in my game. I let go of the clinginess and the need to kind of prove myself and score goals and be this kind of player. That season with Brendan, I was quite carefree on the pitch and just having fun. From that aspect, I think a lot of fun football came as a result.

"I was more relaxed, and that, mixed with being more experienced, I just felt comfortable in the environment. It’s the same way I feel at Brighton now."



The differences between Postecoglou and Rodgers
O'Riley enjoyed domestic success under both Postecoglou and Rodgers in Glasgow. He insists that whilst the managerial traits in terms of football style were in alignment, Postecoglou was more aloof as a presence in the dressing room.

However, the Australian certainly knew how to drive home instructions and was a great verbal communicator when he picked his moments.

O'Riley explains, "I think the football philosophy and style of Ange and Brendan wasn't too dissimilar. When Brendan replaced Ange, he tried to keep the model we had and just tweaked little bits here and there, which I think worked really well.

"As people, it's hard to say because you don't know them as people away from football, but they were very different characters in the dressing room.

"Ange kept himself to himself more and preferred to keep a distance from the players, whereas Brendan was, from a social aspect, happier speaking with players. However, Ange was very good at delegating clear messages to the staff. So I feel like, as a player on the pitch, his instructions were very clear, and it was easy to know exactly what I needed to do.

"I think that was reflected in the way we played, but I had really good experiences under both of them, so I'm just lucky to have played for some really good managers already."




Life lessons after an injury setback
On top of the world in Glasgow and subsequently earning his big money move, O'Riley's momentum was halted nine minutes into his Brighton debut in an EFL Cup tie against Crawley Town, after a nasty tackle by Jay Williams that left him needing ankle surgery.

O'Riley leaned on his life skills as a coping mechanism during his rehabilitation. He has regularly spoken of how he indulges in meditation via regular Zoom calls he makes to a friend and life coach, Dish, who is based in India.

Dish was an intern at Fulham during O'Riley's time there, and the two built a strong relationship focused on mental well-being and personal development.

Within three months, O'Riley was back playing and scoring his first goal for Brighton in a 2-1 win over Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in November.

The midfielder reflects, "It was a bit of a shock because you don't expect something like that to happen. That injury was fairly, I don't want to say easy to manage, but it was quite easy to accept.

"I had another different niggle in January where I took a hit on my knee, and that was more frustrating because it kept lingering until the end of the season, so I felt like I was never one hundred per cent. That was quite tough.

"Whereas the first injury was more a case of rehabilitation, get it right, and then come back stronger, which I felt like I was able to do.

"The meditation with my life coach helped, as it is something I do all the time anyway. It's kind of a way of life for me now, in a sense. That feeling of just kind of being on top of my mind and just kind of paying attention to where my attention is, to be honest.

"I think that's often where a lot of our suffering comes from, just from the thoughts we give attention to and the things we pay attention to. So that was something I was very conscious of during that time. I tried to just cultivate as many wholesome and positive kind of feelings as I could.

"Scoring against Manchester City was cool. It was nice just to play football again, from what I remember. That's a long time ago now, but I remember feeling grateful to be playing football again. Goals are great and they come as a result of being healthy, but as long as I'm able to just train and play, then that's enough for me."

O'Riley is typically philosophical about working his way into Brian Reimer's Denmark squad ahead of the World Cup 2026 qualifying campaign, too.

The Danes have been drawn in Group C alongside Scotland, Greece and Belarus. O'Riley has four full Danish international caps to date but missed out on being part of Kasper Hjulmand's Euro 2024 squad. However, he is eyeing a return trip to Hampden Park to face the Scots in November.

O'Riley says, "I want to go to the World Cup finals if Denmark qualifies. That's quite far ahead. So at the moment, it's not something I'm thinking about.

"It's just about trying to get better every day, and then if I have that mindset and that intention to get better every day and the rest usually comes. I'm looking forward to maybe coming back to Scotland in November."







Body and mind 'in sync'
Whilst O'Riley has been linked with a loan move to Italy and France this summer, he insists his focus is solely on performing with Brighton for the upcoming English Premier League campaign. He rarely even gives thought to past achievement.

He explains, "Every day is a fresh start, right? Every season's a fresh start as well. So I don't respectfully, think too much about Celtic or things like that, as much as I'm very fond of the club, it is in the past now, so it's not something I give too much attention to anymore just because I feel like if my attention's too much there, then it kind of takes me away from where I am and want to be.

"I don't want to waste my time thinking about what could have been and what went right or wrong or blah, blah, blah. I'd rather just be in the here and now.

"We have got a game against Wolfsburg this weekend, and I'm excited for that as well as the new season, and I am feeling good. My body's in a good place and I'm having fun. I think that's the main thing. If you have fun, then I'm not worried about the rest.

"If your body and mind are in sync, then they're directly correlated, right? That's what I was saying. I don't want to waste my time spending attention on thoughts that aren't wholesome because I know it directly correlates with how my body feels as well.

"So when I'm nice and easy and just taking things as they come, the rest usually takes care of itself."

 

We got a sell on?

 

Yup 10% on any fee

 

He’s going to look really handsome in a Juve strip

 

* * fair play to him. * any sell on fee we won't spend it anyway

 

Some move. Specially after that nightmare start to his EPL career. Good luck to him.

 

Much they meant to be paying Brighton for him?