Hard up Sevco have bailed out of the SPFL Development League in a desperate bid to save cash.
The renowned Murray Park conveyor belt of starlets has run dry over the last couple of years with Graeme Murty’s side finishing the current campaign in seventh place with just 15 wins from 21 matches.
Winning trophies isn’t the purpose of the Development League but other than Barrie McKay no one in Sevco’s first team squad has came through the ranks although McKay only joined Rangers (IL) at 17 after leaving Kilmarnock.
While Myles Beerman and David Bates are getting praised to the hilt it’s overlooked that 12 months ago the young starlets were at Manchester City and Raith Rovers.
The move seems very similar to the decision in 2009 to bail out of the SPL Reserve League which resulted in the competition folding with other clubs jumping on board the short sighted decision to save money on salaries and expenses.
Rather than play in the Development League youth supremo Craig Mulholland plans to set up regular matches against Manchester City, Manchester United, Sporting Lisbon and Benfica.
The trouble with that cunning plan is that those clubs already have careful programmes for developing their players through domestic leagues and international competitions.
It’s unlikely that playing against the net generation of John Fleck’s, Andy Little’s and Rhys McCabe’s will be much of a priority for Jose or Pep.
When the Reserve League was stopped in 2009 Celtic tried to set up ‘glamour friendlies’ but even at that level, without a competitive element, matches lose their edge with opponents tending to fill their side with left over players from their various teams.
Through qualifying for the UEFA Youth League Celtic’s u-19 squad were able to play Barcelona, Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach last season, the previous season they played HJK Helsinki, The Puskas Academy and Valencia in the same competition.
Additionally Celtic have played Everton, Sunderland, Villarreal, Manchester City, Norwich City, Aston Villa and Valencia in the Premier League International Cup.
Celtic have a 100% record against Sevco in the four years that they have beat the Murray Park kids 5-2 and 3-0 in the 2015 and 2017 SFA Youth Cup Finals.
