Earlier today, much to the delight of many within the Celtic support, the club announced that central defender Stephen Welsh had signed a new contract with the Scottish Premiership Champions. It’s a four-year deal which will keep Stephen at the club until the summer of 2027.
It was fantastic news to hear that we’re going to be giving an academy talent the chance to really grow and develop into the role at Paradise. With the news that we could be about to lose Rocco Vata this summer, it’s good to see we’re going to stick with Welsh and give him a chance to become the next big homegrown star.
Our supporters tend to complain about losing our best youth players, yet quite a few would like to have seen Celtic cut ties with the 23-year-old defender. Its obvious that Stephen is at the stage in his career and development where he needs consistent and continual games to grow as a defender and hone his skills.
He will make mistakes – sometimes big ones – but that is to be expected in the position he plays on the park. And it isn’t exclusive by the way; many top stars make mistakes, it’s the nature of the beast.
It’s vitally important that we give him our unconditional support and especially protection from the mainstream media if and when he does falter at times. He will feel a whole lot more secure in his role if he knows we all have his back and want him to succeed. There’s a reason mid-to-lower Serie A teams where interested in him this past while. He can play. Of that there is no question. He just has to be more aggressive in the challenge and not shirk from putting himself about a bit more.
We owe it to him as one of our own to aid his career as much as we can from the sidelines. A bit of encouragement goes a long way.
Paul Gillespie
