It has been quite the few weeks for Colby Donovan. Having stepped into the Celtic team to fill the right-back void left by injuries to Alistair Johnston and Anthony Ralston, the 19-year-old has been an exemplar of the notion that good things can happen when opportunity meets preparation.
He has taken to the task so far - including being thrown in from the start against Red Star Belgrade in the hostile Rajko Mitic Stadium on Wednesday night – like an old hand. And he has exhibited an old head on young shoulders too by refusing to get carried away, repeatedly stating just how fortunate he feels to be in this position, and that he isn’t taking any of this for granted.
Still, a boy is allowed to dream. And when he has just recently fulfilled a lifelong one by starting in Europe for the team he has supported all his days, it is understandable if he feels that the sky is the limit.
As he looks around the Celtic dressing room and pinches himself to be sitting next to players he used to idolise, he imagines becoming one of them. A Callum McGregor. A James Forrest. That rarest of things in recent years, a Celtic academy graduate who goes on to nail down a place in the first team and maintains that place for years to come.
“It’s lovely to see,” Donovan said.
“Obviously, Callum, James, all the boys, they've done it, they’ve been in my shoes, they've been young boys coming through. They are club legends now. That’s what I want to be known as.
“It’s been my goal since I was a young boy, so I'll never stop dreaming of that.
“Right now, I'm just taking it game by game, as many minutes as I can get in a Celtic top. It's just that I'm over the moon with it, so as many minutes as I can get.
“It’s mental. But ever since I was a boy at this club it's been my dream to play for the first team and in a big game like this. I'm over the moon.”
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With Ralston’s return to training on Monday and Johnston due to resume training in the next few weeks, Donovan knows though that while he has certainly done himself justice in his recent run in the side (and arguably pushed himself above Ralston in the pecking order at right back), he has a job on to maintain his place.
He is respectful of the challenge from his more seasoned colleagues, but he is also ready and willing to get his teeth into it.
“Two great servants for the club, two great players and for their country also,” he said.
“To get that chance - obviously they’ve been injured - to come in and fill their boots has been phenomenal.
“You've got to fight for your spot in the team, and whoever the gaffer puts in he’s got total trust in him. I'm just happy with what I'm doing just now.
“Since I was a boy, I've just had no fear and played my own game. I really don’t know [where that comes from], but you’re a young kid and you should play with no fear, you should play with confidence.
“I try to block out the nerves every game I play, whether it's a friendly or a league game or my European debut. I just try to cut out the nerves and play my own game.”
One thing that Donovan knows for certain through his public exclamations of faith in his ability is that he has the backing of his manager. Brendan Rodgers was unequivocal in his backing for the youngster prior to the game in Belgrade, and fulsome in his praise afterwards.
“To have the gaffer’s trust to put me in for a big game like that, our first Europa League game away from home at such a stadium, knowing the atmosphere was going to be through the roof, I was just buzzing,” he said.
“He just tells me to play my own game, to have no fear and have as much confidence as I do in training. Just take it from there and put in a good performance.”
A telling moment too, and one that meant a lot to Donovan, was when Rodgers pushed him to the front of the celebrations after victory at Firhill on Sunday, allowing him to take the acclaim of the Celtic support he was a part of not so long ago.
“I've been waiting for that moment since I was young, to go in front of the fans and express how I was feeling,” he said.
“So, I was just buzzing that the gaffer gave me the opportunity to do that. To see all of those fans clapping for you, just being part of the team, it’s been tremendous. I’m lost for words.
“All my family are Celtic supporters. I was brought up a supporter. To see all of them in the crowd at the weekend, it was just mad.”
The downside of that, of course, is that the demands of playing in the Celtic first team aren’t exclusive to what happens on the pitch, but in satisfying requests for seats in the stand.
“I've got a lot asking for tickets,” he said.
“I try to do the best I can, but it’s family first!”
