Callum Osmand has revealed the calm message Martin O’Neill gave him moments before the young striker stepped onto the pitch and changed Celtic’s season against Hearts.
The teenager came off the bench with the match drifting toward disaster for Celtic. Within minutes, everything changed. Osmand’s cross into the box created Daizen Maeda’s goal before his dramatic stoppage-time winner sparked wild scenes inside Celtic Park and sealed the league title.
What makes it even better is how normal the moment apparently started.
Osmand admitted he was actually heading toward the toilet before O’Neill suddenly stopped him and told him to get ready. From there, the young forward instantly realised what was happening.
It says a lot about the trust O’Neill already has in him.
The Celtic manager could easily have turned toward experience in a moment like that. Instead, he trusted a young striker to enter the biggest moment of the season with the title slipping away. O’Neill also kept the instructions simple, which probably helped settle the nerves.
Osmand has looked composed whenever he has featured for the first team this season. Even after scoring the winning goal on Saturday, his celebrations almost carried more shock than panic.
The striker opened up on the moment while reflecting on the title-winning comeback.
He said: (TCW), “I was going inside to the toilet, actually. He grabbed me, and he was like, ‘Oh, get ready’.
“That’s when I knew. I was like, this could be it. And I knew I was ready for it. It will hit you at once, all the nerves. And then as soon as you step on, everything just goes for me.
“He didn’t really say much to me. He just said, ‘You know what you’re doing’. And he gave me a few bits of advice and a few little bits.
“But I feel like if you get too much given to you and too much said to you, it sort of might throw you off a bit. But he speaks to me all the time. And I knew what I was there to do.”
That final line probably explains why O’Neill trusted him in the first place.
Managers speak constantly about mentality during title races. O’Neill clearly saw something in Osmand long before Saturday afternoon. The striker did not look overwhelmed by the occasion when he entered the match, even with the entire season hanging in the balance.
The finish itself was instinctive.
Now Osmand has already written himself into Celtic history before even properly establishing himself in the first team.
Not a bad afternoon for someone who was heading to the toilet minutes earlier.
