The appointment of a Head of Football Operations, a post that is newly created, puts the spotlight firmly on Celtic’s failing Academy.
Callum McGregor’s success has been highlighted but other than the club captain and three seasons of Kieran Tierney very little has come through in the last decade with little sign that things are about to pick up. James Forrest made his first team debut in 2010.
Over to you Paul Tisdale.
Back in 2009 a partnership was set up with St Ninian’s High School in Kirkintilloch that was expected to produce a regular flow of players for the first team but the theory hasn’t been realised.
Fifteen years down the line it appears that a blend of football training and academic work has failed to live up to expectations as the current first team squad demonstrates.
Heading off to Kirkintilloch and Lennoxtown for a 7.30am start carries little appeal with very few of the schoolboys selected for the Academy surviving in the professional game beyond their first contract.
Compounding the issues is ‘graduating’ into the Lowland League, playing opponents in the sixth tier of Scottish football on plastic pitches and expecting a positive outcome.
Celtic B are in their fourth season playing in the Lowland League, sadly it looks like it is producing Lowland League players. In July 2021 the following team lined up for the opening Lowland League match, away to Bonnyrigg Rose:
Oluwayemi, Murphy, Lawal, Otoo, Paterson, Wylie, Letosa, Carse, Vata, Davidson and Dobbie.
Coverage from the club on the Lowland League has virtually dried up, in the last match Bo’ness United scored three late goals to earn a draw. After 11 matches Celtic B have won six and drawn five.
In the u-18 SFA Youth Cup Morton knocked Celtic out 2-0 in the first round, last season Montrose ended Celtic’s interest in the trophy.
Tisdale has been given a massive remit, finding a strategy for the first team is a huge task, expecting one person to turn around a clearly failing Academy is another demanding job but announcing Tisdale’s appointment Michael Nicholson told the Celtic website:
Talent identification and talent development, from our Academy through to our first team, is of fundamental importance to the club’s strategy, and Paul has tremendous expertise in these areas.
We are certain that he will bring great experience, energy and innovation to what we do, working alongside Brendan, our football manager, Chris McCart Head of Academy and our excellent wider football staff, to bring further development and success to the club.
Introducing Tisdale the Celtic statement announced:
In this new strategic role reporting to the Board, Paul will oversee the development and management of effective operations to support high-level football performance, including the identification and development of talent, in line with the club’s objective to develop Champions League players through our Academy and recruitment processes.
Stephen Welsh and Tony Ralston are currently on the fringes of the first team squad, developing talent from the Academy into being Champions League ready looks to be setting a very high benchmark.
Losing to Morton and drawing with Bo’ness, Berwick Rangers, Civil Service Strollers and Gala Fairydean suggests that there isn’t a group of players on the verge of following in the footsteps of McGregor, Tierney and Forrest.
Tisdale can get an update on the massive chasm that he is expected to bridge tonight when the B team play Gretna 2008 at Airdrie tonight in the Lowland League.
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2 Comments
by 57cupfinal
Is the board serious 🤔
CL players from the academy.
Come on, the new guy calls himself the football doctor. He will be a miracle maker if the club produces even one CL player from the academy.
I am not usually this negative but there is absolutely no evidence out there to make me feel confident that this is going to work out.
There is clearly a need for a link from the manager to the board, but lets keep it real when it comes to the clubs rate of talent from the academy. Apart from the obvious ones mentioned in the article, the record is not that impressive to be honest HH
by TicToc
Have another look at the pic at the top.
As long as the fattest of them, fat on Celtic supporters’ money, is anywhere near CP then nothing will change. Ditto the Irish parasite who’s mad keen on golf.
Celtic PLC has already broken all kinds of ‘best business practice’ due to Desmond and Lawwell running the ‘show’ for their own purposes and running it like a small family business. Both have drained fortunes provided by (mostly) working-class supporters of this great club and they probably despise the working class as their perceived politics dictates but ‘suffer’ them as they know where their money comes from.
They’re FLEAS and should be removed as such without ceremony or regret.