By Aidan Connor
When Ange Postecoglou indicated that Celtic needed to be more aggressive and agile in the transfer market, he wasn’t simply referring to high-profile first-team acquisitions. He was discussing the entire football organisation. This includes youth recruitment and, from where I’m sitting in London, Celtic are still missing out on one of the most significant opportunities in UK sport.
Recently, Conall Glancy, a Celtic youth player with huge potential, has departed the club to join Tottenham and is the latest in a long line talented young exits. Every time this occurs, there is a shrug, a casual remark concerning loyalty, or a “maybe he wasn’t Celtic-minded anyway”. However, young players are departing not because they don’t care, but because they don’t see a future for themselves at the club and Celtic are doing nothing to persuade them differently. Shaun Maloney’s appointment as “pathway manager” aims to remedy this. Maloney is a capable coach with good intentions, but let’s be honest, this isn’t the big change Celtic require. It’s another in-house hire, another example of selecting someone who already feels that playing for Celtic is the ultimate aim. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case for the majority of young players.
Celtic isn’t the long term ambition for many current academy players. It may be a step, a launchpad but not the intended destination. This does not imply that these players lack dedication or character, it indicates they are realistic. They understand the scope of the football world around them and perceive the levels. They watch the Premier League, Bundesliga, and Champions League, and they want a piece of it. Can we blame them? However, in Scotland, the customary response is to consider them disloyal. When a kid travels down south, the reaction is not interest or worry, but resentment…”He probably had the wrong attitude anyway”. It’s a self-destructive mindset. Instead of enquiring why they left, we just disregard them. It’s not just a harmful attitude, but also lazy.
This mentality goes deep, rooted in centuries of defending Scottish culture and identity. Scotland has always been fiercely protective of its heritage, constantly guarding its unique sense of self against outside influence. Scottish football fans alike are precious about this identity, perhaps because there’s an unspoken recognition that on the world stage, we often don’t measure up—we know we’re “shite”. This paradox fuels both pride and frustration, seen not only in football but across other sports too. Take Andy Murray, for example, “British” when he won but “Scottish” when he lost, reflecting how the lines of identity can blur and harden depending on success or failure. It’s a complex, emotional dynamic that shapes how talent and loyalty are perceived—sometimes to the detriment of the very players who seek to rise beyond it.
Meanwhile, I’m sitting in London, a city of 9 million people—nearly double Scotland’s population—with some of the most competitive, skilled, and hungry young players you’ll ever see. I’ve seen inner-city youngsters in cage football matches in Lewisham and Hackney with the same bite Tierney possessed. The same awareness McGregor shows. The same heart that Ralston brings. However there’s also that 1% advantage that comes from fighting every day against top-tier talent in high-pressure circumstances to “escape” or “to prove” that many of these Scottish youngsters just don’t have.
The phrase “Celtic DNA” gets thrown around like it’s something you inherit from a postcode — as if ambition, fight, and identity can only come from growing up a few miles from Parkhead. But that logic doesn’t hold up anymore. Daniel O’Connell, the Irish political leader, once took aim at the narrow view of identity by saying, “Being born in a stable does not make a man a horse”. He was talking about the Duke of Wellington — born in Ireland, but seen as English through and through. O’Connell’s point still holds: birthplace doesn’t define loyalty, ambition, or belief.
So why does Celtic — a club with Irish roots, global support, and international history — still cling to the idea that being “Celtic-minded” must come with a Scottish accent and local upbringing? That same raw desire fans worship in Tierney or McGregor might burn just as hot in a kid from Croydon who watches Larsson highlights on YouTube every night and dreams of making it. If we really believe we’re an international club, why gatekeep who gets to wear the badge?
It’s not about turning our back on Scottish talent — it’s about opening our eyes to the rest of the world, starting with the biggest city in the UK. There’s a difference between respecting our roots and being limited by them, and right now, Celtic are limiting themselves by ignoring players who might not fit a traditional profile but still live and breathe the game in a way that aligns perfectly with what Celtic say they stand for.
Private academies such as Kinetic, Pro:Direct, and Cre8tive frequently send players to Arsenal, Leicester, Aston Villa, and Chelsea. Some travel to clubs in Europe. These are kids that weren’t picked up by big-name academies at 12 but at 16 and 17. Celtic could be that option for them. Celtic should be that option. We claim to be a club with a global reach, yet when it comes to youth recruitment, we still operate like a provincial outfit. London is creating more talent than it can practically accommodate. So, why aren’t we having this conversation?
It’s not about rejecting Scottish talent—it’s about expanding our scope. It’s about realising that the “Celtic DNA” we love to talk about isn’t limited to postcode. That extra 1%—the hunger, the heart, the identity—it can be taught. It can be inspired. It can be brought in from outside if we’re smart enough to go looking. As for the English? They are arrogant about it. They do not view us as a danger. They do not take the prospect of Scottish clubs moving down here to scout seriously. That is our opportunity.
A few weeks ago, I attended the 32 Borough Cup, one of the capital’s largest displays of teenage talent. When they learnt that a Scottish team had sent someone to scout it, heads turned. At first they chuckled, but then they began to twitch and worry. The players noticed. For once, Premier League teams were not the only ones watching. This wasn’t the same old narrative and that’s what makes the difference: showing intent. Unfortunately I was the only representative of a Scottish club there. We’ve got the badge, the history, the global pull—and yet we act like we’re lucky to be in the room. The talent is here. The door is open. The only question is—will Celtic walk through it?
Celtic need investment in the first team and the youth team , and if they want to keep the best players that costs money, this board have an aversion to spe ding any money , they only want the 100 million plus in the bank as it will mean huge dividends for most of the board , we will not qualify for the champions league and will sell Maeda and Brendan will leave. But the board will all get their big dividends