Plastic pitches, no reserve league, no wonder we’re losing top talent like Liam Morrison

JUST a few weeks after selling Kieran Tierney to Arsenal, Celtic have now lost out on ‘the next best thing’ to come through the Academy with the news this week that 16 year old Liam Morrison has decided to take up the opportunity to sign for Bayern Munich rather than remain at Celtic.

Stephen McGowan has written about this today in the Daily Mail and there can be no doubt that this is a blow to Celtic’s development plans.

If we are losing our best talent at 16 then that surely is a real concern?

Morrison made his debut for Celtic in a pre-season friendly in Austria last month as Neil Lennon did all he could to convince the teenager to remain at Celtic. But as Video Celts have pointed out this week, Celtic and many other sides have withdrawn from the ill-fated Scottish reserve league and there seems to be no acceptable clear path for young players to get meaningful match action in Scottish football at the moment.

On Sunday BT Sport showed the East Fife v the Rangers match in the Betfred Cup. The game was played on an astro-turf and for a wee team like East Fife that seems fair enough. However in the top division of Scottish football there should be no place for these plastic pitches. Current a quarter of the teams in the Premiership play on plastic surfaces. It cannot be good for the development of the game.

We really do need to wake up and smell the coffee in Scottish football.

Morrison described the decision to choose Bayern over remaining at Celtic as a ‘no-brainer’ and you can understand why. Will he make it in the game? Maybe, maybe not. At the same age Calvin Miller was being quoted as one of the best players in the World, yet he has struggled to get anywhere near The Celtic team in recent years and has been loaned out a few times.

Morrison, like Tierney  is from a Celtic supporting family, and he  is certainly ambitious, as we’ll see when looking what he said to Stephen McGowan.

“The final goal for me is to be the best defender in the world,” the ex-Celtic youngster said. “That is the ultimate goal. How I get there is by constantly trying to make myself a better player.

“Playing alongside great players can only help me in that respect. I take inspiration from Virgil van Dijk. He has been unbelievable since moving to Liverpool and you could see even when he was at Celtic what a great player he was.

“It needs so much hard work and I know I have a long way to go to get to where I want to be. I have to keep my feet on the ground and stay grounded and work hard.”

The best of luck to the Bhoy.

Also on The Celtic Star…

Over a decade of Industrial Scale Cheating – SFA fine £250k, Tom Boyd’s remarks, SFA fine £100k…see HERE.

Celtic ‘Astonished’ by SFA action after Media’s Tom Boyd Witch-Hunt…see HERE.

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

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