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| Full Name | Darnell Theophilous Fisher |
| Known as | Darnell Fisher |
| Date of Birth | 4th April 1994 |
| Birthplace | Reading, England |
| Height | 1.75m (5ft 9in) |
| Position | Defender, right-back, full-back |
| Signed | 1 July 2011 (Eldon City) |
| Left | 10 Aug 2016 (to Rotherham Utd) |
| Goals | 0 |
| Squad No. | 41 |
| International | none |
| Caps | – |
| Goals | – |
Biog
Darnell Fisher arrived at Celtic admitting later he knew little about the club, so there was little chance of him ever mastering a general knowledge quiz down the Gallowgate. Seemed to have a happy outlook and looked to be one who would settle in well as another prospect.
He became a surprise choice for the first team, winning his place by a stroke of luck when first choice right backs Lustig and Matthews were out for long injuries something that was not an uncommon problem with Celtic full backs over the years.
He acquitted himself very well despite being thrown into the deep end of it all, and reaction was mostly positive from the support. As a measure of the confidence in him, he was given a good number of games in which to deputise for his colleagues and prove himself.
He was a grafter and had some fair talent that showed he had potential.
If you look at his record, he got to play in many thrashings of opposition teams, and so gained a good record in the first team, with few goals conceded. Sadly his only European match result was a 4-3 defeat, but at least he got to experience high level international club competition. No real stand out matches but far more positives than any major concerns.
If anything it seemed that we had a welcome problem on our hands, a surplus of good right backs. But how were we to accommodate them all? With injuries it meant all three players were given windows to fit into the first team at one point or another.
The change of managers put him out of the show, with Deila not giving him a fair number of opportunities. The returning Matthews and Lustig further pushed Fisher out the picture, and he was back in the line for a first team place. He maybe deserved another window of opportunities in the first team as was the general view of the support. Yet even though other players were injured repeatedly he was given little chance although he himself was down as well due to his own injuries. Frustrating for him.
For his own sake he was sent out on loan to St Johnstone.
Deila’s reign ended after two seasons, and Darnell Fisher was well clear of the worst of it. He’d have been potentially a valued member if not loaned out, especially as his fellow full backs could spend as much time on the treatment table as they did on the field.
In some ways Fisher got unlucky in that Deila’s first season saw a successful defence bolstered by a great goals and a perfect central defence locking out all else. Opportunities in defence were getting more difficult for the rest that season. He was worthy of any opportunity, but had to fight for a place along with plenty of others. Yet when the defence turned poor he was already out on loan.
He had potential and definitely filled in very admirably in his times in the first team. His was unlucky as Deila and then Rodgers had a knack for giving youth a chance to develop, he just missed the boat by the width of a hair.
He performed well on loan at St Johnstone where he proved to be a popular acquisition but opted to move south on a permanent deal to Rotherham in the second tier.
Post-Celtic
After only a season at Rotherham, he moved to Preston North End for free where he had a long career without too much success in silverware.
In November 2020, Darnell Fisher was charged after an FA probe for grabbing Scotland international Callum Paterson’s penis. Not once, but twice during Preston North End’s clash with Sheffield Wednesday when the pair were waiting for a corner to be delivered. He was found guilty and banned for three games.
He later moved to Middlesborough, but played little in his time due to suffering what was described as a freak accident during the close season of 2021. It kept him out of action for almost two years before a return to the game. He sadly then had to retire from the senior game aged 29 in October 2023 due to his injury:
“The time has come to hang my boots up due to my knee injury, I’ve tried everything to get back to full fitness but just not meant to be. Thank you to all my team mates, clubs and the fans who have supported me over the years.”
Darnell Fisher on Social Media/Instagram (Oct 2023).
Despite that premature end, he began playing for amateur side South Reading FC and won the Slough Town Junior Cup in 2024.
[…..]
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 2013-14 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014-15 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 17 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 21 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish League
Scottish League Cup
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Articles
Darnell Fisher’s quirky route to Celtic first team
by STEPHEN HALLIDAY
published Wednesday 29 January 2014
HAVE you heard the one about the schoolboy from Reading who scored the winning goal for a team named after a Lisbon Lion in a youth tournament organised by Rangers?
The quirkiness of Darnell Fisher’s route to becoming a professional footballer at Celtic is certainly in stark contrast to the mass-produced development of young players in the modern game.
The 19-year-old has emerged this season as a capable deputy at right-back for the Scottish champions during spells when both Mikael Lustig and Adam Matthews have been injured. Fisher has played his part in recent weeks as Neil Lennon’s side have racked up ten consecutive domestic clean sheets.
It was in 2010 that the unusual chain of events which brought Fisher to Celtic’s attention began. At the time, he was playing in the Reading District Sunday League for Eldon Celtic. The name of the team now appears portentous, although they have no formal connection with the more famous Glasgow version.
In a friendly match held at Eton College, Fisher shone as Eldon Celtic under-16s defeated a visiting Jimmy Johnstone Academy side 4-2. The Cathkin-based outfit, named after the legendary Celtic winger, were so impressed by Fisher they asked him to travel north and play for them in the Rangers International Youth Tournament a few weeks later. In the annual Rangers event, held at the High School of Glasgow in Anniesland, Fisher scored four goals, including one in the final in which the Jimmy Johnstone Academy defeated the hosts 2-1.
His performances led to an invitation for a trial period with the Celtic under-17s, ultimately paving the way to a professional contract the following year.
“That Rangers tournament with the Jimmy Johnstone team was the start of it and I kicked on from there,” recalls Fisher.
“I was just playing in a sort of Sunday amateur league for Eldon Celtic. I didn’t think about football as a profession, but then the call came from Celtic and I just had to take the chance. It has paid off.
“The Sunday football was all good fun. I had to wash my own kit and take it home. There were no showers after the game, it was straight back into the car, straight home, get the kit off to wash it and have a bath. And then school the next day.
“We were all friends in the Eldon Celtic team. We played against people we knew from school. We wanted to beat them but also to have a laugh. As I say, I had no thoughts about professional football at that time.
“What was I going to do if not football? God knows, but I’d just left school at 16 and I was going to do a sports course at college, then see where that took me.
“I played for Farnborough FC for a while, in a league just one tier below the semi-professional set-up in England, so that was a good league and good standard which helped me out a lot.
“But it was that Rangers tournament for the Jimmy Johnstone team which got me to Celtic. I didn’t know who Jimmy Johnstone was, not at all. But, when I came up here, I got a DVD of him and watched it. He wasn’t bad!
“I’ve got photos of me standing beside the statue of him outside Celtic Park which were taken when I came up on trial at first. It was a big move for me at the time. It meant leaving family and friends behind, leaving home at quite a young age, but that is part of the game.
“When I go back down south, I go and watch my pals who still play at the Sunday amateur level. It’s a bit weird to think I’ve gone from that to playing for a Champions League team but, in football, anything can happen.”
Fisher made his first-team debut for Celtic in October, in the 1-1 draw against Hibs at Easter Road, and is tonight poised to make his tenth appearance for Lennon’s men as they entertain Kilmarnock in the re-arranged Premiership fixture. He is relishing his role in a back four who are moving ever closer to matching the all-time club record of 13 successive domestic clean sheets.
“It’s obviously bad for Mikael and Adam to have got the injuries which have given me my chance in the team,” added Fisher, “but it’s been good for me to play at this level and help the team stay unbeaten in the league.
“The whole back four and Fraser Forster have been working hard on the clean sheet record. We all want to do our bit to help the team. Virgil van Dijk has helped me out a lot, in terms of settling into the side, and I talk to Fraser a lot during games, who is also a big help.
“I used to play in central midfield when I was younger but, when I came to Celtic at first, I filled in at right-back in an under-19 match and it has gone from there. It’s not easy to get into the first team, with both Mikael and Adam obviously both top international players at right-back. It inspires me, because I can learn from them. But I’ll just keep plugging away and look to take my chances whenever they come along.”