Mikey Johnston was a half-time substitute last night as Vitoria Guimaraes beat Santa Clara 1-0 in a Portuguese League match.
Anderson Silva scored in the 48th minute of the match to end a three match losing run for Guimaraes and lift them into a respectable fifth place in the table.
Johnston was involved in Celtic’s pre-season friendlies but the outing against Santa Clara was his first competitive action since a 15 minute appearance off the bench away to Dundee United in March.
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— Vitória Sport Clube (@VitoriaSC1922) September 10, 2022
Getting involved in a winning start will be a good boost for Johnston who is badly in need of regular football with a variety of factors preventing that opportunity at Celtic.
There seemed to be loan offers on the table from a variety of clubs with the move to Portugal seeming to offer him the best prospect of realising the potential that has been on hold over the last couple of years.
Next Sunday Guimaraes are away to Arouca where Ismaila Soro has started three matches and came off the bench twice since leaving Celtic on loan.
So, Mikey goes on loan for a season and like the others in his position, he will get “Game Time” in his legs. But that won’t necessarily make him a better player, or a player good enough to play in Celtic’s first team! If I was a manager who took a player on loan for a season, I would have very specific jobs for that player. My immediate priority would not to make him the best player he can be! Why would it be? At the end of the loan period, the player goes back to his parent club, who are actually my competitors. And I know that when he goes, the team loses something which will have to be replaced, with another player! So, putting players out on loan does not necessarily solve the problem!
The problem is that there is a lack of quality Coaches. By Coaches I mean people like Willie Maley, who “Taught Them How to Play Football”. With the greatest respect to Sports Scientists, Data Analysts, and Tacticians, what is required is a Coach who knows the Game inside-out and is able to impart that knowledge to the young player and for the young player to introduce it into his/her game. They seem quite to be quite thin on the ground! I suppose it is because it requires two different skill-sets. One is the ability to understand and play the game and the other is the intelligence and ability to teach young players what they know! It might take a long time to develop those skills and so the Coaches are able to pick the jobs they want! It just seems like there aren’t many Willie Maley’s around today!