If he hadn’t seen such riches, with the greatest of respect to Norwich City, Adam Idah could probably have lived with being poor. But having experienced what he did in the second half of last season as a Celtic player, there was no going back to Norfolk for the big striker.
Well, at least not permanently. As he was reintroduced to the media yesterday, Idah brushed off any notion that the long, drawn-out dance between the club where he had come through the ranks and the club he was desperate to play for had made the summer a tortuous one for him.
That was saved it seems for the rest of us back in Glasgow, particularly the Celtic supporters who had taken Idah to their hearts.
In fact, one of the highlights of his summer holidays was bumping into Celtic fans on his travels.
“The craziest one is I was in LA and there was a group of Celtic fans down on the boulevard,” Idah said with a smile.
“I was a bit shocked with that, but anywhere I went there were Celtic fans. I think that's the great thing about this club.
“You can go anywhere and there's always someone there. There's always that Irish bar in any place in the world. So, no, it's an unbelievable support.
“Eight o'clock in the morning and there's Celtic fans everywhere. That was a bit of a shock to me.
“It was a bit of a new thing to get used to that kind of side of things because you haven't really been identified like that in a place like that.”
After bending Jota’s ear to come back to the club while he was travelling a couple of years back, it seems the worldwide peer pressure that perhaps only Celtic fans can exert has struck again. Not that Idah needed much persuasion.
Even when back in Ireland, where he is recognised everywhere he goes, he has noticed that he is now looked at in a different way nonetheless due to his exploits with Celtic last season.
“It's a strange one,” he said.
“Even going back home, obviously everyone knows me back home, so it's pretty normal for me going home. But now that I've been at Celtic, it's like I'm a new man when I go home, which is pretty strange.
“But yeah look, it's been fantastic. I say it all the time, the fans here have been amazing to me. The reaction I got, the welcome has been top class. It's time for me to repay that now.”
And no one was more delighted for the 23-year-old than his own mum, Fiona, whose primary concern is that her son is happy at his work, and in his life.
“She was delighted,” he said.
“She's so proud of me and she's buzzing. She's dying to get over for the games now, so she's loving life.
“She came to quite a few games [last season] and obviously she came over for the cup final, so that was a big one for her. She says it herself - she's never seen me as happy playing football as when I came here the first time, so she's delighted.
“I think everyone's so proud of me. When my mum said to me that she's never seen me as happy as I am when I'm at Celtic, I think that reaction was the same back home. They've never seen me smile so much when I've been at Celtic before.
“I think everyone's delighted for me and they just want me to go and enjoy football again.”
He certainly did that towards the end of last season. Idah says he ‘can’t even count’ the number of times he has watched his last-gasp winner in the Scottish Cup final against Rangers, for instance.
Not that he wants to wallow too much in his past achievements. He has an eye to the future now, and he is relishing the challenge that lies before him during the five years of his Celtic contract.
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One of the most famous quotes about the club relates to the pressure that comes with representing it, with Jock Stein’s words about how the shirt doesn’t ‘shrink to fit inferior players’ perfectly encapsulating the challenge that awaits any Celtic player.
Plenty of good players have crumbled under the weight of that expectation, but for Idah, the effect of playing for Celtic has been just the opposite.
“You just feel free,” he said.
“I know people say there's a lot of pressure and of course there is pressure, but I don't really feel it. The reception I got from the fans is amazing. I've never experienced anything like that. and it motivates me more to score more goals and to be better.
“It's the same with the boys - the mentality they have in the changing room to go and win every single game. I've not seen that before and to be that professional is unbelievable.
“I think it's a lot different down in England in terms of there's not as much demand on you and you come up here and you have to win every game. I think that's something I enjoy and what I thrive on.
“I think ever since I came up here the first time I knew how big this club was and that I wanted to play for it.
“Being in the changing room with the boys and around the staff, it was unbelievable. It was so good for me, and I'm just delighted to be here now.”
