Celtic Academy - Part 2
Part II - The players
Yesterday we had part 1 on the Celtic academy and if you’ve not read it, we would suggest you go over that before embarking on part 2 - The Players:
The most important part of all of this….
The Players
I’ve met and listened to some of our young players, seen how they conduct themselves on and off the pitch and as a parent myself, I’d be proud of what they give each day to try and achieve their goal. Over the years I know we’ve had the odd player who has shown otherwise but it’s a small minority. I admire the dedication, the sacrifice they make to try and achieve their goal of becoming a pro footballer at such a young age. One of the lads was saying to me that he had a day off from training on Thursday after a game so he would probably go for a run and or swim before school, then a 1 to 1 session after school. I can’t say what I was doing at 16 or 17 as if any of our young players read it it’s probably not age appropriate, but if I made it into school on time, or into work by 9.30am sober it was something my boss celebrated.
The players that I’ve met all do the graft, the 1 to 1 sessions (Which a lot of teams and coaches frown upon), the extra fitness, eat right and behave themselves at the weekend and most are Celtic supporters which for me is a great thing as I believe the club is better for having had guys like Callum, James, KT and the rest in the first team having come through the setup and loving the club they play for. It adds something extra that you’ll struggle to find when buying players from all over the world. The odd Luke McCowan might pop up but it’s a rare thing these days.
Admittedly I might be slightly old school in my thinking and would change a few rules based on what I’ve learned about the Liverpool setup. Rules of conduct for players at training with things like cars, no phones during working hours and various other things that Alex Inglethorpe (Head of Academy), whose work I really admire has introduced to help improve the environment they work within at Liverpool. One of the best things they do for me is sending young players to work in local food banks or homeless shelters without club gear on to ensure that not only are they professional in terms of their football but kept grounded mentally and hopefully they keep a good level of humility and can show there is more to them than being a Liverpool player. As a club whose very foundations are built upon trying to help alleviating poverty this to me would be extremely fitting thing for the club to have in place.
Maybe that’s just me being an old fart. I can’t imagine it’s easy telling a group of 16/17/18 year old lads that they can only turn up to training in a car with a max 1.9 litre engine when they’ve got money burning a hole in their pockets and want a Merc that does 0 to 60 in the time it takes to get that 1.5 litre Ford into 2nd gear, and that after training they’ve got a 2 hour stint in the local soup kitchen, but that’s what makes a guy like Inglethorpe one of the best. He makes big decisions, finds the best people who buy into and believe in what the structure is and have a desire to constantly improve and the club are reaping the rewards from it with loads of young players getting chances to step up into the first team. This would go a long way to us building on the philosophy of developing the player and the person. This could easily be achieved in line with The Celtic Foundation or even by going and linking up with some of the local food banks, churches and schools.
The hardest part is getting players to the end destination and often it has huge twists, turns, bumps and injuries and everyone involved knows the reality surrounding the game/business that is football but we as club should be working non-stop to put the best structure in place that gives these lads every chance to prove who they are and what they’ve got. It takes patience, it takes care, it takes desire, it takes understanding and it lets be blunt it takes money and needs the best people we can get in setup to improve those chances by the smallest of margins because they won’t all make it with us. If you are that guy at the head of that structure or the guy coaching or the physio or whatever then your duty and for me your drive should be about seeing these young men at the very least leave with the tools that might get them to where they want be and that might include taking different paths, but the golden aim is can we get these guys to the level that says to Brendan Rodgers don’t worry about recruiting a new striker or goalkeeper right now, no need to worry about getting Michael to sign a big cheque. We have got your best option in house, taught in the ways we as club want that ensures he can slot into your setup, trained to play your game and who is fully immersed in Celtic.
Having watched our teams at different age groups I think I’ve seen maybe 40 to 50 players live and a few more via video. If 1 or 2 of those players make it to the first team and make a significant impact, cementing a place in the team like Callum, James or KT I’ll be impressed, actually amazed because that’s what the reality has looked like and recent years. Years where we’ve often spent millions of pounds on what some might call squad filler. That has only served to make it even harder for a player to see a pathway and might be in part why so many jump ship. Personally, I think there are significantly more than 3 players in our setup from B team to u16s right now who have it in them to be very good players at a high level if they continue to work, are developed well and we all know you need a bit of luck along the way.
Credit to Celtic
One thing I really want to credit Celtic with is I’ve been told many clubs in Scotland drop players who suffer serious injuries as soon as they can because they see the player as a liability, but to the credit if the club I’m told we have a few talented lads who have been well looked after and given contracts/extensions on the books who have had to come back from some bad injuries.
I always recall Martin O’Neill talking about how he put a great value on a player who had overcome adversity because he felt it showed that in tough moment, he knew those players who had had to fight back from an injury, or who had suffered great loss had the mental strength to stand up and be counted, Neil Lennon was one of those players. So hopefully that sort of attitude comes through in some of these players who have had to overcome adversity early on.
Our Best In the Last 15 Years & Those Who Have Left
James Forrest – Debut 2009, 15 years ago…. and he’s still motoring along with bags of medals and a name that will go down in history. Possibly the last player to really break through when Rangers were competitive depending on your point of view. When we look back James has had some real ups and downs but he’s still an extremely valuable player for us and from memory pretty much a model pro over his 15 years.
Callum McGregor and Kieran Tierney (2014 & 2015) – Callum having come back from a loan at Notts County to a Scottish Premiership that seen Aberdeen come 2nd and Inverness Caley Thistle come 3rd. Then Kieran a year later, more by chance than by design. Ronnie Deila was short on numbers, KT was nearby…. And the story begins. Aberdeen again 2nd, Hearts 3rd and one of the most successful teams in Scotland in recent years were 4th… St.Johnstone.
Now I don’t wish to diminish the efforts of the likes of Ralston, Welsh, Johnston or any of the others who have come through but for me the 3 guys above stand head and shoulders above the rest. I think Ralston got his debut in 2015/2016 and has just recently broken the 100-game mark for the club and his ability to remain steadfast and step up when asked in the past few seasons is a massive credit to him and proves that it can be later on that you really find what you can be as a player. Much like Greg Taylor who is arguably one of my favourite players I really do applaud the efforts made to adapt and refine his game under Ange Postecoglou to make himself a player of value for the club, and like so many players he needed that bit of luck to fall his way because most thought after his St.Johnstone loan ended he’d be moved on in the revamp. 3 years later here he is having been to the Euros as the Scotland right back, and popping up with a great assist vs Poland in the recent Nations League game.
Over the last 10 or so years we’ve seen players the club has touted as highly promising depart for clubs in England and in Europe, without anyone having really gone and excelled to a point where we are disappointed they aren’t currently in our first eleven today. Liam and Euan Henderson, Aiden Nesbitt, Karamoko Dembele, Barry Hepburn and Liam Morrison (both below) to name a few. We have also famously lost Andy Robertson because he was judged to be small. He’s gone on and done alright for a wee fella and Aaron Hickey who was brought in from Hearts and then quickly left to go back because he didn’t feel he was getting the same level of development as he was at Hearts.
More recently Rocco Vata, Ben Doak and Daniel Kelly have all departed to go south, all having had offers on the table from the club. I’m told all 3 were good offers that matched or bettered what they left for, but that like so many players in recent times they had concerns about the plan for them and the conditions attached to signing, or they weren’t convinced they’d get a chance having seen us sign a high volume of players who cost millions in the past year or two but who weren’t even getting into match day squads. Now I can already hear the chimes of they aren’t exactly setting the heather alight having moved but go back to the start, our club offered them deals so you would hope that means the club believed they had a good level of potential.
I understand the clubs need to have the setup as part of requirements for Europe and some fans openly say they would get rid of the Academy but for me Celtic should always have an academy that the club and support should be proud of. I also understand that our world changed with one the dumbest words and things to happen in the last 100 years….Brexit, and so English clubs have really increased their scouting presence across the home nations because they can’t go pinching 16-year-olds from European teams but they can use their huge financial advantage to take players from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
I’ve seen guys from Everton, Brighton, Fulham, Newcastle, Man Utd and many other clubs over the months I’ve been watching and we all know the resources some of these clubs have, so I’m not saying it’s easy to hold on to the best prospects, far from it but it’s not impossible and it’s up for debate if we are doing enough to counter the threat that EPL money poses.
Players and parents will all consider the options laid before them when the time comes to discuss a contract. Some might prioritise finances, others pathway, some may even just look at the overall environment the player will be educated and trained in, and some won’t want to leave Scotland until they’ve finished school or worry about becoming homesick.
I know supporters tend to jump to the cash response when a young player leaves and there is no doubt it’s a huge factor but it’s not the only one, and to apply it to every player without knowing or giving any consideration to their circumstances is ignorant. Even if they do openly say they are leaving for the readies then that is their choice and they need to live with it, best of luck to them.
I think the question we have to ask ourselves before we start slating young players for leaving is what would we do or what would we advise our children to do if they were in a job where they had big ambitions and someone came along and presented them with an opportunity that paid better, offered better facilities to work in and with people who are at a higher level of skill. Those are the questions a young player and their family have to ask themselves as they make key decisions that shape a career that may last a few years, or maybe 12 to 15 if they are fortunate. A player can be Celtic through and through, generations of family who bleed Green & White, but every player wanting to go pro has to weigh up their options and really consider what steps they want to make because most players will end up playing for many clubs over the 10 to 15 years, if they get that. Matt O’Riley might not have become the player he is without taking a bold move of stepping away from Fulham to move down the leagues…. There are many pathways and choosing the right one is not easy.
Stephen Robinson (St.Mirren) made the point recently when Ethan Sutherland (above) joined Wolves that some view it as the best idea to go as high as you can as early as possible, cashing in, learning with elite players and seeing where it takes you because if it fails the player still stands a very good chance of landing at a club who are at a decent level. Ben Doak hasn’t left Liverpool but is a good example of how things can change so quickly. Signs, gets a few moments under Klopp who really rated him, then he gets injured and that momentum is halted, but being at Liverpool and having that Klopp backing made such an impression that he makes the provisional Scotland squad for the Euros. Klopp leaves, Slot comes in and has no place for Doak right now and the queue of clubs after him was long. He ends up on loan to Middlesbrough… decent move for a lad who’s had a rough time of things for the last 8 or 9 months, but I wonder if he’d be in a different situation if he’d avoided injury….
So, my first question for anyone who cares to respond is do you think what our academy is producing the goods given the volume of players that set foot in it, the amount of money spent to run it, and are those running it the right people for the setup that should be befitting of one of the biggest and best clubs in Scotland and the UK?
Our club claims to aim for “World Class” in every area within the structure whether that be recruitment, academy, coaching and anything else you would ask what level of ambition we have if the bord are to be believed. I’m not sure they always know what world class means or how you get there in the football world but it sounds fab when you say it to an audience. The lack of clarity or an open book project that tells us what the club wants to achieve and how it plans to do so over the coming years is actually really odd in my opinion.
My opinion is that we are quite some way off world class in many areas especially at Academy level. I don’t think results on the pitch are the be all, end all at academy level so the B Team coming 4th or 6th doesn’t really concern me, but I do believe that the examples you see at the top clubs of a high level of uniformity should be the absolute focus when looking at performances. Red Bull in recent years have been one of the best examples in town with their setup. Salzburg and Liefering in Austria is a great example and the facilities they have are state of the art.
The key thing though is they put an emphasis on simplicity in the message to players. They play to press, counter press and switch the play quickly. Everything they do in their academy is built on top of that simple idea. They are also arguably the best around for innovation and implementation to ensure they are giving every player a chance to improve every single day they set foot in their setup.
This is an article from a few years ago that shows you why they are a benchmark club for player development:
Red Bull Academy: Building footballers of the future
There is also a mini-series at the bottom of that page looking at 5 players making their way through the Red Bull system and it shows that it’s a ruthless world but I love the approach as the coach, players and families all know the score and what is at stake. No sugar coating it, no hiding from it, just being open and honest about the situation each player is in and trying their best.
With that in mind our club use to preach about having a setup that gives players a consistent structure but having seen the different age groups and obviously our first team I don’t see it just now. Those I speak to don’t see it and it’s shouldn’t be hard to identify. While results are not the main focus at the younger ages groups you still want to win enough games to ensure confidence doesn’t hit rock bottom, and you want to win enough games so the players can see the work they do can help them get to the point where good performances more often than not get good results.
Next time we will have Part III - The Staff
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