It’s a brutal business- Celtic midfielder confesses as he prepares for exit

Scott Robertson has given an honest insight into the challenges facing any young player hoping to make he breakthrough at Celtic.

The midfielder made a solitary top team appearance, three years ago against Cluj in a dead-rubber Europa League tie days after a League Cup Final win at Hampden.

Robertson looked perfectly at home in that match but with so much competition for places he was unable to build on the match in Romania.

Ismaila Soro was signed a month later in another of those baffling Peter Lawwell deals that added to the wage bill, reduced the breakthrough prospects to Academy graduates and added very little to the Celtic first team squad.

Robertson wasn’t daft, he didn’t hang around in the hope of another appearance or two with loans to Gilligham, Doncaster and Crewe giving him top team experience with a view to a future move rather than as a springboard into Neil Lennon’s plans.

With no contract extension on the way the midfielder told the Daily Record:

Ever since the gaffer came into Celtic he’s spoken about trying to build something special. Part and parcel of that is bringing new players in and others will leave. It’s a brutal business and this January will see others come and go and it’s just the nature of football.

I wouldn’t use the word ‘frustration’ over my attempts to become a first-team regular but you are always told as a young player here you need to be better than all of the players who are brought in. That’s a fact of life at a club of this size and the challenge to every academy player – and it’s easier said than done.

You know what you are letting yourself in for and the gaffer believes he has better players than myself in the midfield positions and I need to respect that. It’s now my job to go on in my career and prove him wrong.

The biggest thing for me over the last four months has been training every week and knowing it’s going to take a few injuries for me to get a first-team game. I couldn’t have asked for a better grounding.

Playing against CFR Cluj in a Europa League group stage game under Neil Lennon in 2019 was a real highlight but I’ve got to ensure there is a new and successful chapter about to open for me. Celtic are a massive club and carry a large squad and the competition for a start is so fierce it’ll always mean it’s tough for any young player but you wouldn’t swap the chance to try and do that for anything.

Since Callum McGregor and Kieran Tierney came though under Ronny Deila there hasn’t been any players come through the ranks to become a Celtic first team regular.