Astonishingly “X-Certificate” Okoflex blamed for Dropped Points, not Dubai Decision Maker

There have been four crucial points dropped since the ill-fated trip to Dubai for a winter training camp, the Covid -19 positive tests and the subsequent close contact self-isolation. The blame for those particular results lies anywhere from the boardroom to the dugout. Where it doesn’t lie is in the performances of the Celtic youngsters forced in from the cold to take up roles in Celtic’s makeshift sides at home to first Hibs and then on Saturday to Livingston.

First up Cameron Harper and Mikey Johnston took the brunt of the criticism, although Conor Hazard may feel he felt the ire of a frustrated support venting on social media was just as critical of him.

Then against Livingston on Saturday it was the turn of young Armstrong Okoflex. Unfortunately for him the questioning of his performance was not exclusive to 280 characters on Twitter. Even Celtic fans media – the same one who held a recent poll as to whether Celtic would be better off selling our under performing best player while we still need to claim second place at least to ensure Champions League qualification – have had a go and rather distastefully too.

I have to say I’m sick of these young lads taking the flak for recent results. In the case of young Harper, it seems fairly public knowledge that the youngster has been asking for first team football or to go on loan to get it. He’s been unable to secure either and bar a couple of Glasgow Cup encounters Harper has been in cold storage.

On the back of the recent self-isolations Harper was sent out to thaw out against Hibs. Played out of position and alongside a partner in Mikey Johnston – who is also a winger by trade – the lad tried his best, ran his heart out but eventually a lack of fitness took its toll and he went off with cramp.

Mikey on the other hand may be more experienced but he hasn’t managed 90 minutes of football months. Despite these glaring reasons for ineffective performances, they have taken a fair amount of unjustified stick.

For Armstrong Okoflex, the man who replaced Cameron Harper against Hibs, an 86th minute miss was painful to watch but I’m not sure it deserved the criticism it received. Certainly not the ‘X-certificate Celts’ headline, nor within the article the dredging up of a Tik-Tok posting where he’d been critical of his opportunity to play, with a ‘Hero to Zero’ caption. Who needs the Daily Record or The Sun eh? 

It’s a particular galling article to read when you consider the four points recently dropped could almost entirely be laid at the door of the man who sanctioned the trip to Dubai, but you won’t find much in the way of criticism of the CEO on that Board compliant site. You’d have better luck finding a needle in a field of haystacks than even a paragraph criticising their “sharp suited” leader.

All that aside Celtic have a series of young players who have either left the building – Barry Hepburn, Liam Morrison and Josh Adam – or are considering offers, such as Cameron Harper, or who appear to have been side-lined despite being once good enough to grace the squad for a Scottish Cup Final in Karamoko Dembele.

For those who left we’re told a nasty ex Chief scout turned their heads and for those who remain, but are allegedly eyeing the exit door, it’s an attitude problem or ideas above their station. Much like that article on Armstrong Okoflex there is not criticism to be levelled at Celtic.

It’s a concerning development recently that Celtic’s young talent is being poached, yet is it something we have to be troubled with, or is it just something Celtic have to accept is a possibility as we develop young talent? Is it a backhanded compliment or can we do better when it comes to retaining our own talent?

When Morrison signed on at Bayern Munich, he admitted to being impressed with the knowledge Bayern already had of his talents. It was also clear to the player, although a project in the eyes of the German club, that there was a pathway set out for Morrison and a clear route should he be good enough to first team football.

A four-year roadmap was set out for the player, broken down into six-month appraisals where the player could see where he was going right, where he could improve and what his personal goals should be. In short, the Germans with their renowned efficiency had not only sold the club to the player, they had shown an awareness of his talent and evidenced to him they already had a plan set out for his future.

With two other top young talents having followed a similar path to the exit door and possibly others now considering alternatives, it leaves some questions unanswered. Do we make our players valued as young professionals at Celtic or have we become complacent?

In the day and age of digital scouting platforms, clubs far and wide can now see youth level football games and scout players from afar. If we haven’t reacted to that threat, we need to look at a way of correcting it and soon.

Liam Morrison was not only a prospect at Celtic, he was rated very highly indeed. Hepburn and Adam, it would appear were thought of the same way and until recently both Harper and Dembele have been lauded. Given that’s the case perhaps Celtic need to be aware and start addressing a flaw in the system.

This season and the five-substitute rule was the ideal time to slowly blood the young guns. Jock Stein did just that with the Quality Street Gang and they were having to shift European Cup winners, but the next generations’ playing time was important to the club. We haven’t seen that chance to give the kids much needed exposure utilised and then we are surprised and critical that they haven’t been ready when called upon?

And there have been opportunities. Neil Lennon has been asking for a right winger in the transfer window, yet neither Dembele nor Harper featured. Even when James Forrest succumbed to injury Ryan Christie deputised on the right, a left footed central midfielder, rather than blood the kids who play that position as their trade.

In the case of Armstrong Okoflex he was a striker when he arrived at Celtic. We’ve since spent a year trying to make him a left winger – with apparently little tutoring bar ‘use your pace kid’. And then when the squad is bereft of strikers, we leave the kid on the bench and play two wingers up front instead. Go figure.

There will be a time – and it’s coming soon with the post Brexit Governing Body Endorsement Requirements – where Celtic won’t be able to go into the market and pick-up European players. Indeed, those rules indicate it may be easier to attract South Americans than some European youngsters, and I can’t imagine we have much in the way of scouting boots on the ground in Uruguay.

Instead, we will have to look to produce our own and attract those on the fringes of first team football in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, rather than Norway or Sweden.

If we do, we need to first entice those players – and hope the current batch don’t have the same agents as those we are looking to attract -once bitten twice shy and all that. We will also have to try and match the Bayern Munich example of clear pathways and career progression at the club.

When we make promises to players, we need to be willing to fulfil them. Broken agreements can and will come back to haunt us. And as supporters and on fans media sites we’ll need to show a damn sight more patience than we’ve shown to the likes of Cameron Harper, Conor Hazard or more so Armstrong Okoflex in recent days.

Perhaps if we do just that the players may be a little more relaxed in front of goal when opportunity knocks and in turn there will be less need for some of the overly critical coverage Celtic’s youngsters have had to endure in the last few days.

Niall J