The rain and the mist that clung to Celtic’s training ground at Lennoxtown yesterday summed up the mood of the football club. A dark cloud has descended since the death of Phil O’Donnell on Saturday and not even the trappings of the new £7 million complex could make anyone feel good about turning up to work yesterday.

Lennoxtown, nestling against the Campsie Hills on the north of Glasgow, is a far cry from the battered old training ground at Barrowfield, only half a mile from Celtic Park, where O’Donnell turned up during his five years as a Celtic player. It was said that when Celtic moved to their rural retreat three months ago, they would be leaving behind the stress and pressures attached to Celtic Park, where hordes of autograph-seeking fans would turn up every day.

Yesterday proved that theory wrong. O’Donnell never set foot inside the Lennoxtown complex but he was the only thing Gordon Strachan and his players could talk about. Those with longer connections at the club, who knew O’Donnell from his time there between 1994 and 1999, could be glimpsed offering each other comfort. These included Tommy Burns, Strachan’s assistant coach, who paid £1.75 million for O’Donnell when he was manager, and Willie McStay, the reserve-team coach, who used to go on holiday with the late Motherwell captain.

The place was deeply subdued. It was hard to imagine that the biggest game in Scottish football was 48 hours away. However, as soon as Strachan spoke to his players, he knew that there was no way that Celtic could even think about facing Rangers. Stephen McManus and Scott McDonald, who knew O’Donnell well, were affected by their trip on Sunday to the shrine of Motherwell and Celtic shirts and scarves laid outside Fir Park in the player’s memory.

“Having met this morning as a group for the first time since Phil’s death, the Celtic team, management and backroom staff feel very strongly that our match on Wednesday should be postponed as a mark of our sincere respect for Phil O’Donnell, a great player and a great man,” McManus said. “A number of our squad have very close connections to Phil’s family and feel it would be inappropriate to proceed with this match at such a time, following such a tragic event.

“We understand sincerely the inconvenience and frustration a postponement would cause supporters of both teams, particularly those who travel long distances to games, and we respect the views of fans on this matter. However, we feel that this would be the only correct decision. I hope that supporters would understand our position in such circumstances.”

There was no argument from Strachan. The Celtic manager, who worked in England for 20 years, barely knew O’Donnell but was able to gauge the measure of the man after one telephone call from Gavin, his son.

“On Saturday night my son phoned me and said it was shocking about Phil,” Strachan explained yesterday.

“He said that he was a smashing lad. I asked Gavin how he knew Phil O’Donnell and he said that when he’d gone on trial with Sheffield Wednesday, Phil was there.

“When you go on trial it can be a horrible period and no one really takes you on board, but Phil was injured at the time and he looked after him while he was there. That’s one of my children phoning to say what a smashing fellow he was.

“To talk about a game of football at the moment is not easy. Any young man who dies leaving four kids is a tragedy but in the football world you reach more people. When the news came filtering through to Celtic Park on Saturday night after the Gretna match, we had a lot of really upset people: Tommy Burns, Willie McStay and especially Stephen McManus, who was really close to Phil.”

Strachan has also been trying to comfort his best friend, Mark McGhee, the Motherwell manager, who watched his captain die in front of him at Fir Park. “Mark came to my house on Sunday afternoon and we sat down for a while and spoke about what happened. Everyone is numb.

“Usually there is a focus for the Rangers game but it’s not even been spoken about yet. Normally at the weekend you’re putting plans together, thinking about what you’re going to do and who you’re going to play, but it just hasn’t been a talking point.”

Celtic’s majority shareholder, Dermot Desmond, the Irish millionaire, has pledged to do all that he can for the family of O’Donnell. “I spoke to Dermot and he said we have got to do as much as we can to help the family,” Strachan said. “When Dermot says that, you know you are going to get help.”

Postponed games

Tomorrow
Celtic v Rangers
Gretna v St Mirren
Hibernian v Motherwell
Sunday
Motherwell v Celtic