I was interested to read former Celtic defender Charlie Mulgrew’s comments a few days ago on The Celtic Star regarding his views on Liam Scales this season and I have to say I whole heartedly agree with him.
The man from Wicklow, who is now an Ireland international, has been phenomenal so far this season and his story really is an inspiring one. Scales of course arrived from Shamrock Rovers and was one of a draft of new recruits who came in that summer as new manager Ange Postecoglou got to grips with the Celtic squad at the beginning of what turned out to be an unbelievably successful two years.
To be honest his signing came pretty much under the radar as bigger names arrived at the club and not a lot of fans thought the defender would be able to step straight into the Celtic team having come of course from the League of Ireland. It was obvious that it would take Scales time to get adjusted to playing at a higher standard and that proved to be the case, although making 19 appearances across all competitions was still impressive.
With Ange Postecoglou adding more defensive cover during the following summer Liam was offered the chance to go out on loan to Aberdeen which he agreed to. He became a stalwart for the granite city team that season, playing mostly at centre back as opposed to left back where he got most of his game time at Celtic.
We have to thank Aberdeen and Jim Goodwin for this, as he certainly seems a lot more suited to the position than he does left back. After the loan deal was finished the Irishman headed back to Celtic Park where fellow countryman Brendan Rodgers was now back in charge, and with another former Celt Barry Robson making it known he wanted to sign Scales on a permanent deal, his time in Glasgow looked to be coming to an end.
An injury crisis however meant Celtic were forced to rebuff Aberdeen’s advances and Scales was thrown into the first team out of almost nowhere. He has went on to appear 26 times already this season, including all 6 Champions League fixtures. While the other centre backs struggle with injuries, Scales has been a mainstay in defence. He has made the left centre back spot his own. There has been talk around a few centre backs in our current squad leaving during this window but you can rest assured Scales won’t be one of them.
It looks like it could be the end of the road at Celtic for both Gustaf Lagerbiekle and Yuki Kobayashi, who could be following Liverpool flop Nat Phillips out the door after his loan deal expired. If this does transpire I can’t say I will miss any of them. This of course would still leave us with Carter-Vickers, Welsh, Nawrocki and of course Scales so we have ample enough cover in that area.
It’s mad how absence makes the heart grow fonder and it seems like that is the case with quite a few Celtic fans regarding Carl Starfelt. During his time in the hoops I don’t think there was a player who got it in the neck as much as Carl did yet now a lot of fans think we would be better off if he had stayed.
He definitely wasn’t as bad as was made out at times but he wanted to go and to be honest I think Scales has been an upgrade. I like the fact we have a left footer in the left centre back position now, it creates a much better balance in the backline. I also think Scales is much more accomplished player on the ball, with a higher level of passing and a greater ability to bring the ball out of defence than Starfelt did.
It was a host of unforseen circumstances that led to Liam Scales getting his moment to shine at Parkhead. He has grasped the opportunity with both hands. I feel like he hasn’t hit his peak yet either as he seems to be consistently improving the more game time he gets.
His confidence seems to be growing too which is great to see. He’s certainly not afraid to take the ball in difficult situations and very rarely seems to make mistakes. He is also a fine player in the air, at both ends of the pitch.
Sometimes as fans I think we can get slightly caught up on bringing in big signings from overseas when often we have players on our own shores worth investing in. If we had of signed a centre back in the summer who cost £6m and he came in and played like Liam Scales has so far this season we would all be saying it was money well spent. I certainly think his emergence has saved Celtic and Brendan Rodgers a few million, which can hopefully be invested in other new recruits.
In the Charlie Mulgrew interview he talked about how he saw a lot of himself in Scales and I have to say it’s definitely something I have been thinking about this season. Very similar players who have both went from being primarily left backs to highly accomplished centre backs whilst at Celtic. Mulgrew of course went on to win Player of the Year in 2011-12.
If Scales keeps up his current form in the second half of the season I see no reason why the Irishman couldn’t go on to emulate Mulgrew’s feat.
Conall McGinty
THE CELTIC STAR’S WINTER SALE IS NOW ON! ALL BOOKS HALF PRICE FOR A LIMITED PERIOD INCLUDING OUR 2023 BEST SELLER MAJIC, STAN AND THE KING OF JAPAN.
GET A MASSIVE 50% OFF ALL BOOKS AT CELTICSTARBOOKS.COM/SHOP
-
![]()
- Invincible by Matt Corr
-
![]()
- Majic, Stan and the King of Japan
👏👏👏👏👏Scales has ticked all the boxes and a natural left footer to boot.