Fine-tuning Tommy Burns methods
Almost exactly 10 years after Celtic fans alleged Porto’s adherence to the rules was less than faithful, when they won the Uefa Cup after extra time, their creative genius, Deco, failed a drugs test a substance used to mask performance-enhancing substances were found in his blood.
Is anyone surprised?
Congratulations to the Celtic under-20 team on securing league and cup double, the fourth consecutive season Celtic youths have recorded this achievement. John Kennedy and Stevie Frail’s operation is years ahead of what was previously known as their domestic competition.
Celtic have been fine-tuning youth development since Tommy Burns returned from Amsterdam all those years ago with new strategies, some of which are still being used. The cream graduate as Champions League players, but Celtic are pretty much running elite-level youth development in Scotland, a fact made clear when you look at the enormous number of Celtic training academy graduates earning a living across the rest of the league.
It used to be the case that Celtic wasted young talent. Perceived wisdom was “Go to Aberdeen or Dundee United, they’ll turn you into a player”. The opposite is now true.
[calameo code=00039017118d2251efdd9 lang=en page=136 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]