O’Riley’s amazing ascent to the top is an inspiration to all of us.

The incredible story of Matt O’Riley’s tortuous path to the top, which may be about to begin a new chapter this summer after he helped Celtic win their third consecutive title, should serve as an inspiration to anyone trying to make their way in the cutthroat world of football.

As a teenager at Fulham, he had huge teams from all over Europe monitoring him and could easily have taken the new three-year contract offered to him when his previous contract expired at the age of 19. He did not. He walked away because he couldn’t see a way onto the first team.

O’Riley spent lockdown in 2020 without a club, working out in parks around West London by himself or with his father. He accepted an invitation to train with MK Dons and drove 140 miles round trip from his family home in Thames Ditton every day.

He saw a potential move to Belgian club KV Kortrijk fall through after a trial before signing a contract in Milton Keynes and trying his luck in English League One. And now, just over three years later, he’s here.

Since joining Celtic for £1.5 million midway through Ange Postecoglou’s first season in command, O’Riley’s development has been quick under the Australian and current manager Brendan Rodgers.

Now 23, he has been one of the Parkhead side’s best players, winning the league title in each of his three seasons, the most recent at Rugby Park this week, and was the subject of a £20 million offer from Atletico Madrid at the turn of the year.

Sure to pique interest in the coming months, his personal development has checked so many boxes in terms of motivating players seeking to break through at big clubs where youth isn’t typically given a chance.

Believe in yourself. Make your dreams come true. Do not make money your god. Take a reverse step if necessary. Get games.

With O’Riley, you get the impression that there is a lot more going on underneath the surface. Deeper concepts that can be applied outside the confines of professional sports. To everyone, regardless of age or life stage.

They focus on marching to your own drum, pursuing things you enjoy and finding ways to continue finding fulfillment in them even when times are bad, overcoming disappointment, resolving what is holding you back, helping others while keeping open to being helped yourself. Perhaps more vital, especially for younger guys, talking to the proper people when things get overwhelming.

In explaining why his game has become more consistent, O’Riley has mentioned meditation and regular Zoom calls with a friend and life coach in India.

‘Dish’ worked as an intern at Fulham while O’Riley was at Craven Cottage. ‘I immediately built up a relationship with him because I felt he really wanted to help me,’ O’Riley has said. ‘I didn’t necessarily get that feeling from everyone else there.’

It was intriguing to hear what his acquaintance truly discussed with him.

‘I work with him a lot in terms of speaking about things, which were maybe kept inside me for a long time,’ the midfielder explained. ‘(Things) I might have not had, not necessarily the courage, to speak about, but the knowledge to understand how to speak out about it. That has helped me loads and it has helped me to be a more rounded person overall.’

Football is a hard environment. It’s getting better, but young people still believe that conforming to stereotypes is the easier option. Individualism is not always valued.

With the level of pressure and expectation that exists, it may be a harsh testing ground. It is admirable that O’Riley is self-assured enough to acknowledge to using such cutting-edge techniques. It’s incredible that he’s been analytical enough to tackle the difficulties that are preventing him from achieving where he wants to go.

Confronting inner demons is difficult and complex. O’Riley confesses that getting into this headspace, this frame of mind that has brought him to the brink of lift-off, has required a good number of years of hard, hard labor. Something about him suggests that he will continue to evolve.

Almost everyone who talks about O’Riley cites his lifelong love of football. He recently expressed a wish to retain the ‘young, childish playfulness’ he had on the field as a 14-year-old, expressing himself freely and embracing football for what it is and should be.

He admits that this has not all come from within. It has entailed accepting support and guidance from others when times have been tough.

He discusses how the encouragement and support he has received from people in the past has motivated him to make it a point to encourage and support colleagues and team members.

If it weren’t for Russell Martin, a former Rangers player, O’Riley might not be where he is today, playing international football for Denmark and set to enter the ranks of the very elite.

Martin, who was then the manager of MK Dons, received a call from an agent in 2020 informing him that O’Riley, who had been watched by Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, and other clubs as a youngster, was searching for a training ground. The invitation he extended resulted in a contract and a significant change in O’Riley’s approach to the game.

‘From day one, they were always really nice to me,’ O’Riley told The Athletic at the time. ‘Just a lot of praise, which I wasn’t actually that used to. It was nice to feel wanted.

‘I’ve never really had a relationship with a manager who would be talking to me regularly about how they feel about me, telling me what I can and can’t do.’

O’Riley is a self-help advertisement, but he also demonstrates what can happen when individuals are willing to reach out to others, embrace compassion into their own lives, and talk through their worries and insecurities with those they trust, rationalize them, and establish an action plan.

It surely suited him well when his play slumped in the middle of the season, just as Atletico’s interest was growing but was finally turned down.

O’Riley worked his way back to become one of Celtic’s most prominent players and most valuable asset.

Having now confessed that he will be better prepared to cope with transfer speculation in the future, he quite frankly deserves everything that comes his way.

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