John Kennedy has paid tribute to Curtis Jones and Liam Gormley as the duo depart Celtic.
Both players starred in the double winning season just ended as Celtic clinched the SPL and SFA Youth Cup for the third season running.
Gormley came back into the side in the final two months of the season while Jones started every match since the turn of the year as Celtic won 14 games on the bounce to clinch the double.
“We spoke to both of them individually a few weeks before the end of the season,” Kennedy explained. “We told them that we’d be letting them go but they never let their heads drop.
“They kept working and playing for the team which is a big credit to them. They are two boys with great attitudes and it’s sad to see players leave.
“Decisions have to be made and we felt that it was best for them to go and carve out a career elsewhere.
“They both have enough ability to grasp a chance somewhere else and make a name for themselves getting first team football.
“Hopefully further down the line I’ll be sitting back watching them on telly, they both deserve to succeed.”
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If these boys are part of such a successful youth set-up why are they let go so easily? Don’t know much about the youth league set-up but I have heard of both of these lads and it has all been good. Is there really no place for them at Celtic Park? I though there was going to be an under 20 league?
There are always players released.
In defence Celtic have Lewis Toshney and Marcus Fraser closer to the first team so it’s better for Curtis to move on and try to establish himself elsewhere.
In attack Tony Watt, James Keatings and Paul George are in Neil Lennon’s plans.
Gormley and Jones have had three great seasons at Celtic in terms of training, development and education.
Hopefully next season they can put it into practice for someone’s first team rather than remain on at Celtic with no expectation of breaking into a first team that is looking to qualify for the Champions League
Well said Joe, we have to clear the decks for the best of the young guns to get as many opportunities to show what they can do.
The current first team squad needs trimmed greatly to make even more room for some highly promising youngsters.
They might not be able to perform at the highest level for a full season but can certainly offer plenty to the team for 10-20 games as required.
Given the chance, I am sure few would let us down. I’d always rather see a young lad given the chance than some over the hill, over paid senior player brought in to patch up the side.