Originally Posted by
elatedscum
Yup - he probably wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity at 17 without Bolton struggling but… he was excellent playing for Bolton and by all accounts, he did really well with the irish squad till he got injured.
His performances for the 21s have been excellent. Every visual indication is that he’s an excellent young player, except his struggles at Celtic. But in recent times, every irish player who has signed there has really struggled. Okoflex, Afolabi, O’Connor, Connell, Coffey - all signed as genuine prospects, all have done nothing there. For example, if you compare Afolabi and Kayode - there’s no doubt Afolabi was far superior in summer 2019 - but he’s totally fallen off the radar - and there’s nothing in his game that he lacks, that Kayode has, it’s just about developmental opportunities. Lee O’Connor was well ahead of Danny McNamara at the same time. McNamara is playing two divisions higher than O’Connor now. So on, so on, so on…
The new crop (2003-2005) include Jonny Kenny, Bosun Lawal, Frankie Deane, Ben Quinn, Rocco Vata. Hopefully they’ll have better luck.
The issue is really Scotland’s. Celtic are stuck in a situation where their young players can’t play any meaningful games and can’t play quality opposition. As much as they’d like to develop good young players, compared to sides south of the border, they’re hamstrung.
The other thing that happened in recent years was they signed a tonne of cheap players with potential in their early 20s, hoping that they’d strike gold with a few of them. So they’ve always have a massive squad, like right now they seem to have a first team squad of 30 players, which is insane. So there’s about 12 first teamers starved of football - needing opportunities in cups etc, which leaves no room for youngsters to receive game time - and because there’s pressure to win every game, most of their recent managers have been reluctant to blood young kids who might make mistakes and cost you points.
By all accounts, the current manager is decent and should be a big improvement on Neil Lennon…
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