Bhoys To Men?

I've been impressed from what I've seen of McGowan & Caddis. They may not go on to break any Celtic club records but there's something about homegrown talent coming through the ranks which lifts the supporters & club as a whole. Sadly I doubt they'll be given the chance to fulfill their potential (whatver that may be) at Celtic.

According to the club we've produced nobody of worth in the last 5/6 years since McGeady came through. What youth players do we have? I state McGowan, Ferry, Grant.....except they're 22/23!. How many times have they even played for the first team?

If they're not good enough why have they been given so many contracts? If they are good enough why weren't they played instead of the horribly out of sorts Graveson, Sno or Donati? Why did we buy Flood?

So from all the millions we've spent on the youth facilities all we've produced is Aiden McGeady? One good player every 10 years? That’s not good enough for a club like Celtic. One player good enough for the first team in this period is nothing short of disgraceful

You see when we loan players out what’s the process in tracking their progress & development? Is there a 'Loan Liaison'? Somebody who keeps in touch with the loan club in terms of the players development & also in touch with the player thus making him feel still part of the parent club. With cameras at nearly every ground he could keep tracks via video coverage of all the games and take it in turns to watch the various players first hand.

Jim O'Brien played once for Celtics first team, was loaned out for most of his time at Celtic before leaving for free to Motherwell. Whilst Celtic struggled to a draw against bottom of the league Falkirk, O'Brien was scoring twice for the Well. He may not go on to be a world player of the year, he may not even have changed the game against Falkirk.........but how many more players have we let go who could make a decent contribution?

Is Koki Mizuno really any better than Jim O'Brien?

Cillian Sheridan is currently on loan to St Johnstone. Will we have someone watch him to see how he gets on with a consecutive run of games? See how he could fit in to the Celtic team should the need arise? Or will we simply read the Sunday papers to see what rating he got from some half arsed journalist & check the scoring charts?

With Scottish football in a financial ruin at the moment the youth setup is a vital part of the future of this club. Even the top teams across Europe are having to cut their wage bills, its no surprise that with the collapse of Setanta and no Champions League money Celtic too will have to steady the ship in the coming years having splashed the cash this season, even if Champions League status is regained next season.

There's no doubting we need quality on the pitch, and to do so requires spending money and using nouse in the transfer market. The best deals can be found across Europe, Celtic having already stepped in to Scandinavia to pluck 3 players in this window., however, there is still the transfer fee, signing on fee & wages to outlay.

The best value for money certainly comes from within. We can't afford to pay £10000+ per week to the whole squad of 30 something players. A player signing from abroad will automatically demand a certain wage, double what a young Celt would earn that’s for sure & that’s what we need to do to balance the books, get more of these young Bhoys through the ranks & getting them first team football to prove their worth. Who'd you rather have in the squad a Japanese guy on £6k per week or a local lad, Celtic mad, of equal ability on half that salary?

Last seasons U-19 squad were all released, deemed not to be good enough. Fair enough is my response. I'm not for playing these lads for the sake of it, because they are local Bhoys who'd die for the jersey. Quality control is certainly in order, but what do we get from the Academy? A club like Man Utd have lots of players coming through the ranks, not all will be good enough for the first team, not all will be sold for millions, but the majority are sold for some money which helps the youth setup pay for itself.

Something must be done to sort this out. Do we have young players coming through who can make the grade? If so will we ever see them play for the first team? Will we even make any money on them? Or will they be loaned out year after year until suddenly somebody realises they're actually 27 & we've been paying them the last 10 years to play for Dunfermiline, Partick Thistle, East Stirling & of course Swindon!!

At the start of the season despite the financial plight they find themselves in it was inconceivable for Rangers to sell there best player Bougherra. Now it is an easy choice to offload him & help burden the debt due to the form of youngster Wilson. Injuries for a number of players forced Wilson in to the fray & he has seized his chance to cement a place in the first team.

Would the same happen at Celtic? When Naylor has been injured in the past the likes of Lafferty, Caddis & Misun have been overlooked in favour of Caldwell, McManus, O'Dea & even Robson. Why have so many players who are able to play that postion if we've no intention of playing them? How can we forget previous youth players like Mulgrew who we’ve let go for peanuts, a player who would have walked in to the left back position at Celtic Park the last few seasons.

As my friend always reminds me when we sign another Korean/Polish/Japanese superstar "Celtic have never won anything with foreigners"