James McPake's Celtic connection with Darren O'Dea helped him land Ewan Otoo as he detailed his month chase to land the 20-year-old.
The Celtic B star has made the move to East End Park on loan until the end of the season as he bids to help the Pars land promotion back to the Scottish Championship. The third tier league leaders recovered in stunning fashion after trailing by three goals to comeback and win 4-3 in a thrilling away day win against Airdrie.
McPake and his troops have now opened a seven point gap over Falkirk in the race for the title with Otoo making his debut from the bench. Revealing the details behind landing the Hoops B captain, the Dunfermline boss detailed: “I have known him since he was seventeen. I am very friendly with Darren bring who is the Celtic B manager. Ewan was the Celtic B captain and I have tried to get him for the past month. We eventually got it over the line and again a thank you to the club for that.
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“He showed his adaptability against Airdrie. He came on in midfield, he then went left of a back three. He is a good player, a great kid, and he is not somebody that I don’t know. I didn’t know him personally but he played against my youth team and I had watched him plenty. Obviously with the connection to Darren I had spoken to Darren and watched most of Celtic B’s games.”
The midfielder was handed his Dunfermline debut after just one day training with his new team-mates and 32 minutes into the stunning comeback win over Airdrie.
McPake admitted he was hoping to not throw him in the way he did but he wasn't phased - in a move that pleased his East End Park boss. Speaking to the Dunfermline website, he added: “We are delighted to get him in and I wasn’t hoping to throw him on to a game like that but when he went on it didn’t phase him. When he gave the ball away but he was trying the right thing, I don’t mind that.
“I will never criticise the players for trying to do the right thing but if you don’t run about and you don’t fight or when you are on your knees you don’t try and get back up then of course I am going to criticise them because it is not something that me, Dave and the rest of the coaching staff will accept.”
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