In July 2021 Celtic joined the Lowland League, less than two months later Michael Nicholson was appointed as Celtic CEO. Initially on an interim basis but no-one was fooled, he had been groomed for the job for a long time and was soon in place permanently.
Two years later the leading sports lawyer gave his only media interview as Celtic CEO. With Brendan Rodgers returning as manager Nicholson was asked what the ambitions of the club were, while looking around nervously for approval he said that it was ‘to be world class in everything that we do’.
Four years on Celtic from their entry into the Lowland League Celtic are still playing at that level and making no progress towards creating first team players.
The only player to emerge from that level to start an SPFL match is Owen Moffat, he made the team-sheet away to St Mirren in December 2021, was substituted after 62 minutes and never seen again. Asked at the 2024 AGM the last player to come through and start an SPFL Premiership match Nicholson was clueless.
This month in the Lowland League Celtic have played against Broxburn, Civil Service Strollers, Cumbernauld Colts, Tranent and Linlithgow Rose. From those five matches the have won eight points with a goal difference of 12-13.
Only a complete fool would describe that sort of form as world class. Last season in the CAS U-18 league Celtic had a record of Won 10, Drew 3, Lost 15 finishing behind St Mirren, Kilmarnock, Queens Park and Mortherwell.
While the club goes big time on the success stories of Callum McGregor and James Forrest those tales are wearing thin, especially on the players that have followed on at the Celtic Academy.
Especially those that stayed at Celtic when Aaron Hickey and Lennon Miller decided that their development would be better served elsewhere.
While Nicholson talks big the reality is frightening, even more so with the opening ribbons for Barrowfield still to be cut.
Many questioned the wisdom of cutting edge technology in a brand new complex when players are being sent out to play every week on the plastic pitches of the Lowland League. Celtic play their home matches on Airdrie’s plastic.
It seems that the cutting edge technology isn’t even being used.
Readers may have noticed that Celtic no longer provide video highlights from their Lowland League matches, the coaches no longer discuss the games with the club’s own media.
While that is typical of their own communications and attitude to fan engagement it covers an even bigger problem.
Celtic no longer video their Lowland League matches! No analysis is available.
That level of negligence is beyond a joke but hardly surprising, it sums up the attitude of the club as it spends millions doing the same thing year after year and wonders why no one emerges into the first team.
Analysis is no longer cutting edge, it is standard practice. Junior teams and amateur clubs routinely use video analysis.
A decade ago Celtic’s u-17 players were provided with their full match to review within 12 hours of the match being completed. It gave them a better understanding, the bigger picture rather than the view from their part of the pitch.
Now and then a proud relative would release a clip onto social media.
Today Celtic don’t video their Lowland League matches- just one of the many parts that contributes to the breakdown in player development. Bar a token appearance here and there Rodgers knows that there is nothing in-house to draw on at Celtic.
Nicholson shares a joke but Chris McKay doesn’t get it.
On Kerrydale Street 8.23pm 16 August, Jumbled gave an inside account of the set up at Linlithgow Rose for Saturday’s Lowland League match:
Here is how cheap we are. I posted elsewhere that I watched the B team at Linlithgow today. At the game I realised that the spot away teams are allocated to film games from, was not occupied.
So I asked around and it was confirmed that Celtic had not sent anyone to film the game. That didn’t stop them from asking Linlithgow for a copy of their recording of the game. And quite rightly got told to bolt.
Celtic is a business with £70 odd million in the bank asking a club with a wage bill of around £130k a year for a copy of their recording. The people that run Celtic are an embarrassment and clearly have no shame. We aren’t taking young player development seriously in any way, shape or form if we can’t be arsed filming games to do reviews with the team / individual players. Completely unacceptable.
Almost all clubs in the Lowland League will video their matches and will have some sort of analysis, probably an enthusiastic fan or a young would be scout keen to get involved in the game. There could be another Jack Lyons out there just waiting to be appreciated by a coach who recognises genuine talent.
Some basic patterns and issues can be identified, strengths and weakness and how corners and free kicks are going both offensively and defensively.
If Celtic B have no video of Saturday’s 3-0 defeat they’ll be relying on the memories of their coaches or double checking on whatever their opponents upload onto You Tube.
This from the club that has spent £10m plus on their Barrowfield Training Complex, the last word was it is scheduled to open in November 2024.
Analysis is critical to modern coaching and player development, win or lose reviewing the last match is essential, highlight to a group what they did well and badly, lessons to be learned before getting out with the bibs and cones again.
The team that lost to Linlithgow Rose included Mitchell Frame, Sean McArdle and Francis Turley, all three have played competitive minutes for the first team, how their development is helped by playing in effectively the East of Scotland Juniors League is a mystery.
All of these players had potential, hopes of making it, dreaming of playing for Celtic. Tragically they are the latest casualties with their future career more likely to be in the Lowland than in the Champions League while Nicholson releases sound-bites and reminds himself not to get caught out next time he is introducing a new manager.
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