I find it really strange that Connell isn't around the first team given what we saw out of him at Bolton. Did he show up in preseason completely out of shape or something?
Neil Lennon doesn't have a great record with younger players. Has a habit of either ignoring them entirely or else picking a couple of them and then running them into the ground, forcing them to play through injury, scapegoating them for poor team performances etc. Caused huge problems in this regard at Hibs last year before he was eventually shown the door.
I'd worry for Connell if he ends up in their reserve team all season though, with no competitive league to play in if he's not getting first team football Celtic is not the right club for him - same goes for the other Irish lads there.
Lennon is a follower of the Martin O Neill school of management = Old school .
I've a feeling that's going to be the new reality in future. As soon as an English-qualified player appears in the Premier League, the national manager is asked why he isn't in the national side, mainly due to the drop in English-born players in the competition. As things stand with dual-qualified internationals, we've lost Rice and Grealish to England, while Obafemi has been confirmed as an Irish international. Nobody wants to see another player lining out in and England jersey, and until the rules change, the only way to tie a player to the national side is to play him in a competitive international, so the calls for players in the Irish underage sides to appear at senior level are only going to increase.
FWIW I'm still of the opinion that Grealish wouldn't have changed his allegiance if the press hasn't been pressuring Hodgson to call him up.
Yes, I think and hope there's a bit too being made about Connell's exclusion so far. Celtic are trying to get up to speed quickly as they've crucial CL qualifiers week-on-week at the moment. It's not an ideal time for bedding in new players really. Hopefully he'll get his chance and take it once their season settles down a bit.
Celtic out of the Champions League before Connell makes his senior debut. He's taking a bit of stick off Bolton fans on social media over it. On the plus side he apparently played very well for the Celtic Colts in the Caramel Wafer Teacake Cup or whatever it's called last night. However, they lost on penalties so that's his only other route to competitive games closed off for this year.
Needs to push into the first team but doesn't seem to be in Lennon's plans yet.
is that Luca 2nd row left? At least he's in the picture at Celtic and he's a bit taller than Frimpong.
Last edited by geysir; 08/12/2019 at 4:29 PM.
Have you got a picture of Dean?
To me that looks the spittin image of Luca
That's about 40 kg heavier, 30 years older and I guess that's circus wrestiing garb
Close but no cigar
Yes, no, and pretty much!
Celtic have qualified top of their group in the Europa League, you'd hope to see some of the youth players bring given a chance in their final game against Cluj on Thursday
Only Coffey is eligible as he’s on their B list. None of the other 4 irish players were registered
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