Youth/Development Team Thread

Stuart Findlay has announced he's left Celtic today

 

Surprising after how well he did on loan at Dumbarton and then Kilmarnock, have to think that he is one who has chosen to move on for regular first team football rather than the club not offering him a new deal but still disappointing as it looked like he could do something here.

 

said he wanted a fresh challenge

 

CELTIC have beaten a host of English sides to sign the highly rated Ballyfermot and St Francis striker Tommy Caffrey on a three-year contract.
The striker, who represented Ireland earlier in the season, turned down several top clubs down south to accept the offer from the Hoops.
Coach Mark Connelly said: “He was one of our best players and he had other opportunities, but I think he was always set on Celtic.
“The lad has a good attitude and deserves it, he has done very well for us this season and we wish him all the best.”
The Baldonnell outfit also praised their former player, saying: “He has done the club proud. We believe he is the best in the country for his position and his age group.
“We wish Tommy all the best in Scotland.”

 

Sounds good,hopefully a future star

 

Never rated him in the slightest. So clumsy looking and in the tackle. Remember AC Milan's kid's tearing him to shreds. O'Connell won't be far behind him in my opinion..

Sound's very promising

Good to see us targeting striker's, with PJ Crossan as well. We've had a lack of them since Johnstone left it seems. McMullan and Nesbitt being makeshift striker's..

 

Wallace Duffy has signed a 2 year deal with the club today





Delighted to sign a 2 year deal with Celtic and looking forward to the challenge ahead ☘

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHVOFFeBOKD/

 

You can see brodge clearly values youth with all these young players being either tied up or signed even before the first team has been looked at fully.

 

Welcome to Celtic Wallace Duffy, PJ Crossan and Tommy Caffrey

Agree with McGuire it's good to see us targeting strikers, would be fantastic if we could bring our own through. I know that's the same for every position but a goal scorer would be fantastic.

Hope to see Aitchison got more games next season.

What position is Wallace Duffy?

What's the story with Donnelly up front? He's still with us right? He didn't seem to feature much last season although I'm not sure if that was injury. Thought he was looking good too. I only really know our youth players from match reports mind, hardly ever see them live.

Wonder what the story with Nesbitt is, he back from Thistle or are we extending that loan? I don't think he got much experience with them.

 

I agree about the 2 young centre halves. And I'm someone dying to give youth a chance. Neither are comfortable enough on the ball for me. Think both could carve a decent career out in this league though.

 

Good good! Like the sound of Caffney. Hopefully we see the best of the recent dev side get game time this season or decent loans to footballing sides at a good level; Calvin Miller, Aidan Nesbitt, etc.

 

That's Paul McMullan away to the Pars on a season long loan. Hope he does well!

 

Aye hope so, good luck McMullan, decent team for a loan.

 

He's no good enough for us. Clear as day. Rapid wee *, but doesn't have the heart for a big club..

Wonder if his loan was part of the PJ Crossan deal..

 

It was

 

At least the lad will be playing so at the end of the season he has much more options to stay in the game.

 

CELTIC’S Development Squad head to Broadwood Stadium this Saturday for a game against Clyde’s first-team.
It’s only the second pre-season match for the young Hoops, but coach Tommy McIntyre believes it will be a good test against a strong Clyde side who are further on in their preparations, given that their League Cup campaign begins next weekend with a home game against Kilmarnock.
And the match against the League Two side (KO: 3pm) also gives Celtic fans an opportunity to see some of the talented young players coming through the Youth Academy.
“It’ll be a tough game, and it’ll be physical,” McIntyre told the official Celtic website. “I think Clyde are well into their pre-season and have already played four games, while this is only our second game, because they kick right into it.
“And it’ll be the same with Annan Athletic. They’ll have played five competitive games before we play them in the Irn Bru Cup, so that’s something we need to catch up a little bit, and that’s the reason why we take the games we do.
“Everything’s carefully monitored and selected to meet the needs and get the players to the way we want them, because that’s probably the biggest game for us – the Annan Athletic game.
“The results aren’t that important in pre-season but, at the same time, everybody wants to beat Celtic, so there are big tests there.”
Tommy McIntyre will take his Development Squad into the newly-revamped Challenge Cup (Irn-Bru Cup) this season, with their opening tie against League Two side, Annan Athletic, at the start of next month.
The old format saw 30 teams vie for the trophy from the Championship, League One and League Two, along with one club each from the Highland and Lowland leagues.
From this season the tournament, which will now be called the Irn-Bru Cup, will expand from 32 to 54 teams and will now include two clubs each from the Welsh Premier League and the Northern Ireland Football League. And the Celtic coach has welcomed this initiative.
“It’s a step forward, a step closer to hopefully having a team in the league,” he said. “They do it all over the world, so why not do it here?
“It’s another way of bridging that gap between youth and first-team, and then you wouldn’t really have to loan players out because you would have a natural vehicle to develop your own players, so it is a step forward and we’re looking forward to it.
“The main purpose for our young players is to get to the first-team and we want to prepare them and get them as close as they can, and it’s really healthy for them now.
“We’ve got Jamie McCart, Anthony Ralston and Jamie Lindsay all away with the first-team in Slovenia just now, and they’ve all played, while Kieran Tierney is now established now in the first-team.
“And on Saturday against Clyde, the likes of Jack Aitchison, Aiden Nesbitt, Calvin Miller and Joe Thomson will all play, so it’s good to go to somewhere like Broadwood and showcase the young players that we’ve got, albeit it’s early in pre-season, but it’ll be good in front of a crowd and against a strong Clyde side.”

 

Well Findlay just signed for Newcastle United and will be in their U21 team next season.

 

The Irn Bru cup will provide us with something different to keep an eye on in general but in particular with regard to the youths. Brilliant idea imo.

 

Really odd signing IMO. Did ok at Killie but didnt impress us enough to hang on to him, I wonder what Newcastle saw to give him a shot. Alot like Jordan Mcghee at Hearts. Middlesborough like him so much they got him on loan for a season just to play him in their U21 side. Any time I saw him he's looked shakey as anything, his handball against Aberdeen was comical.