"I've asked a few times now if I can get away on loan, but he (Strachan] says there is no chance of that," he said.
"It doesn't seem that he is keen on me going anywhere so it's just a case of working hard and hoping. I've no patience, to be honest. I never want to sit on the bench and be watching"
As long as I'm not playing, I'm going to be wanting to play. But (Strachan] knows that and I'm not sulking about it - just working hard.
"I love Celtic, I love the club and I want to play there, and it's just a case of waiting to see what happens.
"I think (Strachan] thinks a lot of me. But it's a catch-22 when I'm not playing. He says that centre-halves mature at maybe a slightly later age, which is maybe true, but it's hard because when you are at my age you just want to play. It's a bit of a strange situation."
Captain Stephen McManus, who himself came up through the ranks and made the left sided Centre back position his own hope that Darren stays at the Club and had this advice to give to him. "You tend to appreciate things a lot more when you have to work a little bit harder, and don't get something easy. Darren is the same.
"There comes a point when it's important you don't rush to leave a big club, because you could go elsewhere and then, before you know it, it doesn't work out as well as you expected, and you wish you had stayed. The thing about Darren is he is a level-headed lad and he works his socks off, and he will be fine - no doubt about it."
It is easy to feel a certain level for Darren, as this catch-22 situation must be very frustrating for the player. On one hand he feels that he needs more football in order to mature into the player he knows the can be, but on the other hand the manager will not let him leave because he is first choice to replace either Caldwell or McManus should either of the first choice centre halves sustain injury. In essence Darren is the victim of his own success.
Gordon Strachan will have his work cut out in placating a player who accepts his place in the managers plans but just wants to play football. Maybe this situation could be eased with a rotation policy? As I understand it Gordon is not too keen to send players in Darren's situation out on loan to clubs due to the difference in training regimes and system of play. This is a situation that we all hope can be remedied in the no too distant future.
Yours in Celtic
Clydebuilt