---
title: "Celtic: Darren O’Dea wanted by Ayr"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/darren-odea-ayr-united-spfl/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Charlie Smith"
section: "Celtic News"
published: "2021-12-22T13:05:02Z"
modified: "2021-12-22T13:05:02Z"
---

# Celtic: Darren O’Dea wanted by Ayr

**Celtic coach Darren O’Dea is wanted by Championship side Ayr United after they parted ways with Jim Duffy earlier in the week, [The Scottish Sun](https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/8184415/celtic-darren-odea-eyed-up-ayr-united-ambitious-move/) report.**

### The Lowdown: O’Dea’s promotion

After retiring as a player two years ago, O’Dea had been managing Celtic’s Under-18’s.

[Celtic updates!!](https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/celtic-updates-20/)

The 34-year-old was given a [promotion](https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/sport/19661482.darren-odea-thrilled-ange-postecoglou-pointers-earning-celtic-promotion/) at Parkhead back in October, though, and is now a part of the Celtic B team working alongside manager Tommy McIntyre.

O’Dea recently labelled first-team manager Ange Postecoglou as [‘brilliant’](https://www.celticfc.com/news/2021/october/20/darren-o-dea--lennoxtown-is-the-perfect-learning-environment/) and works near the first-team at Lennoxtown, but it appears as if the Irishman is a wanted man ahead of the New Year.

### The Latest: Ayr keen

[The Scottish Sun’s Alan Potts](https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/8184415/celtic-darren-odea-eyed-up-ayr-united-ambitious-move/) shared a story on Monday afternoon, claiming Ayr are eyeing an ‘ambitious’ swoop for O’Dea after Duffy left the club following a short spell in charge.

Potts claimed that Ayr’s managing director Graeme Mathie is on the hunt for Duffy’s successor and it’s understood that O’Dea is on their radar.

\[freshpress-quiz id=”375302″\]

### The Verdict: Time to jump ship?

You’d expect that O’Dea has aspirations of managing at first-team level after [Under-18 spells](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/darren-odea/profil/trainer/69813) with Motherwell and now Celtic, so he may well jump at the chance to join the Championship side.

However, it would be a risk with Ayr struggling in the second tier and just [three](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/scottish-championship/table) wins from [18](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/scottish-championship/table).

Saying that, O’Dea will have seen that former Hoops man Shaun Maloney has recently jumped into management with [Hibernian](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59664751), so he could see Ayr as a step on the ladder when it comes to making his mark from the dugout.

***In other news: [‘A lot of clubs’ tracking ‘unbelievable’ Celtic ace ahead of January, says BBC Radio 5 Live man.](https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/celtic-news/celtic-pat-nevin-kyogo-furuhashi-claim/)***