As a Celtic player who cost the club the best part of £9m to bring to Glasgow, Adam Idah is probably not short of a penny or two.
Still, it is almost the season of goodwill after all, and the big striker was grateful to the Hearts supporters who so generously threw their spare change his way after he bagged a double off the bench at Tynecastle on Saturday night.
Idah saw the funny side of having coins pelted at him from the corner of the Main Stand closest to the away support, with missiles raining down as he celebrated in front of the locals, and he thanked those Hearts fans for supplementing his Christmas shopping.
“I definitely enjoyed it,” Idah said.
“They were giving me a bit when I was warming up, so I thought I’d give a bit back.
“I could probably buy all my Christmas presents with the amount of coins on the pitch!
“But look, it’s a bit of banter and I was happy to celebrate in front of both sets of fans.”
Thankfully, despite projectiles flying around that corner of the stadium at various points during the evening, there appeared not to be any serious damage done. Something Idah was grateful of, having been in the wars recently himself.
“I had a bad concussion,” he said.
“I think the nose is broken but I just need to wait until it settles down a bit as there is still a bit of swelling.
“I don’t know if I’ll get it fixed – I’m quite scared to be honest!
“It’s the first time I’ve ever broken it, so it was inevitable at some point. We’ll see how it goes. I managed to avoid the black eyes but it was tough breathing and sleeping, and I was getting bad headaches.
“But after a couple of days it was fine.”
Idah certainly gave Hearts a headache when he came into the action on Saturday night, forcing home Celtic’s third before atoning for his penalty miss at the same venue in March as Celtic suffered their last domestic defeat.
“It was nice to make amends,” he said.
“It was in my head when I stepped up to take the penalty.
“I knew I wanted to score to put it right. Thankfully I did that, and I was really pleased with the two goals.”
Idah’s contribution gave the scoreline an emphatic sheen for Celtic, but you would have got long odds on the match finishing the way it did after a first half in which Hearts pressed the champions effectively and managed to knock them out of their stride.
Some half time adjustments from Brendan Rodgers though, and the quality he was able to call upon from his cavalry on the bench, eventually saw Celtic take control of the game and move themselves three points clear of Aberdeen at the top of the table.
And in truth, the sight of the likes of Idah and Paulo Bernardo coming into the action underlined just why Celtic are clear of their domestic opposition.
“With the squad we’ve got, everyone is capable of playing their part,” Idah said.
“I think that’s why we’ve been really good this season. It doesn’t really matter who starts the game, it’s about making an impact.
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“Saturday showed the depth again. A couple of us spoke about it the other day, you could play anyone in the squad from the start.
“It’s probably the best problem for a manager to have. Everyone has been fantastic. It’s so good to have that with the amount of games we have and with Europe and everything. Like I say, it’s a great problem to have.
“Everyone is excited for every game. We know this period is going to be busy and it’s important for us to stick together. Everyone will be needed to play their part.”
That is likely to be the case on Wednesday evening as the next Champions League challenge rolls around for Celtic, with Club Brugge the visitors to Celtic Park.
The match presents an opportunity for the Scottish champions to edge closer to their goal of progression to the play-off round of the competition at the very least, though Idah knows the Belgians will present a stiff test of their credentials.
He is confident though that with the Celtic Park crowd behind them once again, they can turn in a similar performance to the one that blew RB Leipzig away last time out.
“We do relish the home games,” he said.
“It’s unbelievable. The first game against Bratislava was something I’ll never forget.
“Every time you have a Champions League game it’s really exciting – and you want to win these games.
“We have been really good so far so we need to keep pushing and hopefully doing well.
“I’ve not really looked at [the table]. For us as a group we’ve really taken each game as it comes. I don’t think I’ve looked at the table once – and I don’t know where we are going in.
“It’s about us getting as many points as we can and scoring as many goals as we can in the games. Then we’ll see where we are.
“We feel we can compete with anyone - 100 percent. The Dortmund game wasn’t the best night but before the game we got together as a group and we had confidence we could win.
“That’s what this season has been about. We are not afraid to play anyone.
“You saw that in the Leipzig game. We showed what we were there to do and we feel we can go head-to-head with any team."
