Soccer Football - Scottish Premiership - Celtic v Aberdeen - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - July 31, 2022 Celtic players in a huddle before the match REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
Celtic are ready to pull out of the Lowland League with an expanded loan/twinning set up expected to provide younger players with the development needed to convert Academy prospects into first team players.
Four years in the Lowland League has been a complete failure, during that period only one player has started an SPFL Premiership match.
Owen Moffat’s appearance on the team-sheet away to St Mirren in December 2021 was so underwhelming that Michael Nicholson couldn’t remember it when he was questioned at the 2024 Celtic AGM.
The players that started out in the Lowland League campaign in July 2021 are almost all still playing at that level with the exceptions of Bosun Lawal and Rocco Vata who moved to the England Championship last summer.
Details have still to be finalised on what next season will look like but it has been proposed that five players can move out on loan to a non Premiership club- and be able to move back and forwards between the two clubs.
It remains to be seen how enthusiastic lower league fans are to the prospect of that deal.
If approved it would allow Celtic to send five players out to Queens Park or Ayr United to gain meaningful experience- if they are of the required standard.
After the St Ninian’s School project it is doubtful whether there are players ready to go out and play in the second tier of Scottish football.
When Duncan Ferguson became manager of Inverness Caley Thistle in September 2023 he contacted Brendan Rodgers about taking players on loan, no one moved to the Championship club.
This season Dane Murray and Adam Montgomery have been on loan at Queens Park, previously Jonny Kenny was on loan to the Spiders.
Lenny Agbair and Josh Clarke have been out on loan at Ayr United under the management of Scott Brown while Ben Summers and Matthew Anderson have been on loan to Austrian Second Division side Admira Wacker.
Last night Celtic’s B team lost out in the final of the Glasgow Cup, they finished second in the Lowland League and reached the last 16 of the UEFA Youth League with some players involved in the competition for the third season running.
You would be lucky if the invisible man could name the present celtic team .
Our academy and youth set up is a shambles…
That said the weather has been awesome this week and not one youngster has been seen down the road in the playing fields and football pitch…
No doubt top players on play station or whatever it is though !
The reserve league should never have been done away with at least young future players got chances and seemed a lot closer to the first team connection
Watched Sevco beating us on pens…Bottom line is…Standards were really poor…Trying to copy first team style of play…with players who can’t do it…Even allowing for their age…it was a scrappy performance and nobody is coming through soon.
We have never been serious about youth development. For a club with a turnover in excess of 100milliok a year and with around what must be at least 100million in the bank we spend about 1% of that on our youth set up. It’s a token gesture, nothing more. Until there are major changes at a high level in the club nothing will change, any of these new plans won’t really matter.