Brendan Rodgers issued a reality check to the Celtic Academy youngsters who were given a flavour of first team football under the watchful eye of the Celtic manager in Sligo on Wednesday evening…

The Celtic squad was made up of fringe players from the first team squad, new signing Luke McCowan and a large chuck of the Celtic B team who were given the chance to impress the Irishman in the Celtic dugout.

Brendan’s post match interview 

Afterwards, speaking to Celtic TV Brendan Rodgers issued some stern advice which is actually invaluable for the young stars if they want to achieve their ambitions in playing first team football, with the Celtic manager accepting the talent is there but the physicality is lacking.

“A lot of them need to improve on that aspect of their game,” Brendan said. “They need to have more running power, they need to get in contention more.

“They have talent with the ball but that’s nowhere near enough. That physicality allows them to play at a higher tempo. But it was nice for them to feel that and play in front of a crowd and play with that type of personality you need to play for Celtic. Some of them did really well.”

Here’s the Unique Angle from Celtic’s win in Sligo…

Overall the Celtic manager was happy with the way the mid-season friendly went and surely this is a new idea that has worked well and should be repeated in future international breaks.

Three things were achieved

1. Squad players like Luis Palma got game-time and ended up giving the manager something to think about.

2. Academy players got access to the first team, which Brendan said is always difficult at a club like Celtic. This is one opportunity that could be a regular occurrence.

3. Celtic got the chance to engage with the supporters in Ireland by bring Celtic to Ireland instead of what usually happens and the Celtic supporters in Ireland come to Scotland or away games in Europe.

As an ongoing event, Celtic travelling to Ireland in international breaks in October when the schools in Scotland are on holiday gives families the chance to get tickets and head over to Ireland for an October break taking in the match being the highlight. It makes a lot of sense and will help Celtic’s profile in Ireland amid the wall-to-wall Premier league coverage.

A really good exercise

“It was a really good exercise for us because a lot of our senior players got 90 minutes in, which was great,” the Celtic manager said. “The second half was a better tempo than the first. It was excellent to come out to Ireland. Sligo were very good. It was a real good test, especially for some of our boys that haven’t played for a little bit of time.”

Highlights from Sligo Rovers 2-3 Celtic

Celtic in the Thirties – Know Your History

Matt Corr of this parish and a well-known figure at Celtic Park as a member of the Celtic Tour Guide squad, has worked for three years researching and writing his new book Celtic in the Thirties, which appears in two volumes and is proudly published by Celtic Star Books in a few weeks time. It was a decade of incredible triumphs for Celtic but also heart-breaking tragedies and this is the long overdue authoritative history of that turbulent and under reported decade in Celtic history.

Celtic in the Thirties is available to pre-order now and there’s a Q&A with Matt Corr which you can read below.

READ THIS…Know Your History – Matt Corr’s Celtic in the Thirties Q&A