IF Anthony Stokes isn’t careful, there is a danger someone could soon label him a model pro.
Until now, the wild child tag has dangled around his neck, largely a product of his own immaturity.
Yet all of a sudden, the penny appears to have dropped.
Aside from scoring crucial goals against Dundee, Hearts and Motherwell in the last month, the Dubliner has provided a calming influence in a dressing room that was in danger of being torn apart by the arrival of Ronny Deila and the departure of confidence.
A chaotic summer saw Celtic crash out of the Champions League on two occasions — first to Legia Warsaw and then, after the Poles were found guilty of fielding an ineligible player, to Slovenian side Maribor.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, their league form also deserted them, and at one stage the Scottish champions slumped to sixth in the table after defeats in Inverness and at home to Hamilton.
Deila’s future was called into question, but the Norwegian has responded by guiding Celtic to the League Cup semis, where they will renew their rivalry with Rangers after a two-and-a-half-year wait, as well as to the summit of the Scottish Premiership and the last 32 of the Europa League.
“We think a corner has been turned,” said Stokes. “A lot of it stems from the win in Aberdeen in early November. That was a massive result because a couple of things went against us up there — Scott Brown getting sent off, Aberdeen going a goal up — but we showed real character to come back.
“There was a lot of hype going into that game and the way we celebrated at the end had a lot to do with a few of their players piping up and having their say in the lead-up.
“Clearly they fancied their chances, but we came out with the win — which we expected. And it shows we are digging in for the gaffer and trying to play his style of football.
“There were a couple of people, maybe even one or two players, who were sceptical at the start. But when a new manager comes in, you have to buy into his style and philosophy and if you look how we’re playing now, it’s clear we are all working for the manager and all enjoying his football.”
They certainly are. Yet Deila, a relative unknown before he got the job, has relied unwittingly on Stokes in the dressing room as well as on the park.
At 26, he appears to finally be growing up as well as growing old as he used his amiable personality to persuade the doubters that the Norwegian was worth backing.
“When results aren’t going well, when you are trying to change things, fans can get on your back and there can be some unease,” said Stokes.
“Really, you just need to ride those moments out, stick to your principles and I think we’re seeing the fruits of that now.
“The gaffer is a fiery character. Yes, it has taken him some time to adapt to the culture, the type of lads he’s dealing with. But it’s going really well right now. There is a good morale among the boys.”
Stokes’ morale is also surprisingly high given the cloud that hangs over his career.
Due to appear on trial in Dublin next May on charges of assault causing harm to Anthony Bradley in a nightclub in June 2013, Stokes has once again found himself at the centre of unwanted attention.
Yet when he first grabbed people’s interest, it was when he went on a scoring spree, contributing 14 goals from 16 games for Falkirk in 2006 before Sunderland persuaded him to sign for them ahead of Celtic and Charlton.
That Roy Keane — Stokes’ boyhood hero — was Sunderland’s manager at the time proved key in the decision-making process.
Yet it wasn’t a perfect marriage. When Don Givens dropped Stokes from the Irish Under-21 squad in 2007 after Stokes had failed to show for a game against Germany, citing an injury, Keane was unwillingly dragged into the argument.
Later that year Stokes’ pride was injured after Keane left him behind in Sunderland when he arrived late for their trip to Barnsley, and then when his manager publicly teased him about his regular appearances in the Glass Spider nightclub.
Yet in his recent autobiography Keane wrote favourably about Stokes and the striker, too, has suggested the Cork man’s management was always fair.
Can the same be said about Giovanni Trapattoni?
He ignored Stokes from May 2011 after he withdrew from a squad due to fatigue. “We had an early start to the following season and I’d only a 16-day break,” said Stokes in his defence.
“The club spoke to the FAI for me, because the last time I pulled out with the Under-21s and rang the manager (Givens) myself, there was a problem.
“This time the advice was to let the club handle it, which is what I was told to do. What was said, I don’t know.”
What we do know is that he has grown up.
“As a young lad, I probably could have focused on my football a little bit more,” Stokes says.
“But I’d like to think I have changed from the age of 17, when I signed for Sunderland. Maybe I’m not there yet, but I’ll keep focused on my football and keep going.
“I always just focused on my football. An awful lot of things in the media have been blown out of proportion and exaggerated slightly. I never let it get to me.”
It is just as well because the list of controversies doesn’t end with old-school theorists like Givens or Trapattoni deciding Stokes wasn’t their cup of tea.
Long before his charge for assault, the player was generating headlines when he showed up at a fundraising event for a murdered member of the Real IRA, Alan Ryan.
Around that time, Neil Lennon, his then Celtic manager, was growing tired of his attitude around the training ground.
“I had him in the office a couple of times,” said Lennon. “It’s fair to say he was walking on very thin ice.
“I had question marks over his temperament in big games. But his athleticism and fitness improved.
“He was always a really good player. His striking movement was always good — very adept with both feet — but he was curtailing his own progress by his own indiscretions and indiscipline.”
The start of last season saw the sea-change in attitude. With Gary Hooper sold, the chance to become Celtic’s number one striker opened up and he took his chance, scoring 20 league goals from 30 starts.
This year Lennon and 4-4-2 may have gone, but Deila has still found a place for him in his system and also found time to defend him when he used Twitter to engage in a row with the Hearts owner, Ann Budge, following trouble between supporters from each club.
“Maybe Ann Budge should worry about her own fans, never had so many sectarian comments directed at me in a ground like Tynecastle the other day,” Stokes tweeted.
Inevitably headlines followed. Deila, however, calmly pointed out that Stokes lives in a democracy and is entitled to freedom of speech.
Next May, his freedom could be at stake when the court trial begins.
He may have matured impressively in the last year, but Anthony Stokes will still be judged on his past.
See More: Anthony Stokes, Celtic, Comment & Analysis, Ronny Deila
