18 months from the end of his contract, it’s good to read Brendan Rodgers talk about securing Liam Scales on a long-term deal. The player is unrecognisable from the man who struggled against St Johnstone in August and is a testament to what happens when you develop a player properly.
Successive Aberdeen managers, Jim Goodwin and Barry Robson saw his potential, as did the Celtic scouts who recruited him from Shamrock Rovers in 2021 for little more than £500k. However, his career upwards trajectory could have been lost were it not for Celtic’s central defensive injury crisis at the start of the season.
Carter-Vickers, Lagerbielke, Nawrocki, Phillips and Welsh were all unavailable at various stages during the first half of the season, leaving Liam as the permanent feature Celtic built their central defence on.
One of the main reasons I’m keen we retain Liam’s services for years to come is his preferred foot and second position. As a left footer, he gives a more natural balance to central defence than is possible with two right footers. He can also play left back, a position pretty much every club in the world struggles to recruit for.
Lefties are 10% of the population and are considered a mandatory requirement to play at left back, even more so than having a engine to get up and down the field or an ability to cross.
Celtic have had remarkable consistency at left back since 2010. Emilio Izaguirre, then Kieran Tierney, then Greg Taylor made the position their own. Taylor has seen off a few competitors for the spot and is approaching his peak years. I’d like to see if Liam can be an option there, in the event we need one.
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BRRB
Home to a bottle of Knob Creek (no beaver jokes please) and a bottle of Laphroaig from a sales rep.
Loovul lover asked “where you going?”
My reply?
“Wednesday.”
Aipple
Yer one helluva man for one man K.
Hail Hail.
😁
New colleague started today, had some Greek sounding name I thought I recognised so I googled it.
Happened upon this family history website that I don’t remember seeing before. Pulls in a ton of data for the names I checked. Need to look more tomorrow. There’s a Monday beer here.
https://forebears.io/
It’s Newclub not Newco. According to UEFA.
aipple
Of course there is a Scottish-Irish version of that site – ‘Fourbeers’
On similar lines Native Americans would have names such as Ten Bears
Whereas those like BRRB would have the colloquial name of er Ten Beers….
It’s amazing what you can find out when you put your mind to it…
Celtic Mac
Aye indeed. 😂
CELTIC MAC
“fork andles.”
Awww ffs Aipple is at it again…..😁
Aye, it’s me until I remember what thing I was supposed to be doing from a post it note on the fridge.
Doon there galavanting around Florida and calling this Kentucky bhoy out?
12 hours drive! I can get there.
That said my car is going in the garage tomorrow to get new rear end so driving would be tough,
The bars of Florida are 50% safer tomorrow at lunch.
Back to the post-it note.
Keep enjoying down there mate. I’m down that way for work now and again. Some fun spots.
Both of ye have a drink on me.
Mmm there is a song in here somewhere…
On the Liam Scales front well, fact is neither Ange nor Brendan rated him at all. Ange loaned him out and had Brendan been able he would have shipped him out, along with Stephen Welsh had he not been Scottish. And there were more than a few drivers available on here.
My own standard for judging any new player is; does he look like he has played the game before?
(Not too far from wee Bertie’s ‘Aye but can they play?’ re Inter Milan)
I actually saw Liam’s early appearances for Celtic, LC against Raith Rovers etc and the answer was yes, and also that he also had something about him, bit of grit. Also concluded that DT Matt O’Reilly and Reo Hatate had played the game before they arrived. Can’t say the same with all of our ‘projects’
If anybody had contributed to Liam’s progress it was the forty games he played at Aberdeen, under Jim and Barry. So we knew he could handle the SPL.
As for Brendan and Celtic, you would have to say development by default.
Glad he still with us either way.
LonnieDoneganCSC
Grit.
Yes.
San Juan tomorrow. Any recommendations to keep me out of the clutches of the small doll. Mind you, I’ve been doing that for 30 years. 🤔😁
In San Juan that is. Hellfire and damnation. Terrible thing, the drink.
I am limited to West Palm beach and Delray Beach.
If you ever get the chance Seaside is delightful in a weird way. It’s where The Truman Show was filmed.
https://www.fodors.com/world/north-america/usa/florida/the-panhandle/experiences/news/this-florida-town-is-the-real-life-truman-show
Good evening all from the Waverley. I’m certainly wavering. 😂
And havering. 😂
The Rock n Rolling Stones. Classic.
https://youtu.be/qGd7SkdETro?si=hxLIcgH3MuXFh6wx
Marvellous rock n roll.
https://youtu.be/aU54xtdb_ic?si=lsNNIIHhBVyO9kyy
The magnificent CCR. This for An Tearmann.
https://youtu.be/ZWijx_AgPiA?si=nCUbi28PcEmLTllT
No hun on this tub. Sports Bar manager is Portuguese, knows his history about the Celtic. Small world.
Good morning all from San Juan. I’m the only sensible drunk left on the blog. That’s frightening.
Good Morning Fholks – Grand Day To Be A Tim
CELTIC MAC @ 12:56 AM,
‘On the Liam Scales front well, fact is neither Ange nor Brendan rated him at all. Ange loaned him out and had Brendan been able he would have shipped him out…’
MMMMMmmmmm
That’s not exactly a fact, Brendan gave every player in our squad a chance, like he did first time around, including many of the ‘B’ Team.
Liam was of course earmarked for a permanent move to Aberdeen, yet that was on the previous Managers/Coaches assessment.
Brendan stated…
“Well he’s outstanding. I’m so happy for him.
“He’s probably one of the biggest surprises of my career as a coach. It’s only because I hadn’t seen him play that much and there were other players ahead of him. Through people leaving and others getting injured, I’ve seen enough in training to give him the opportunity.
“Ideally you always want a left-sided centre back in your team that has good pace and intelligence, and he has all of that. You see the way he plays and is performing and he’s really grown and I’m so happy for him because he’s got pressure being from Ireland.
“There’s a lot of pressure on the Irish players at this club and he’s been outstanding.”
https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/brendan-rodgers-hails-irelands-liam-31136329?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target
There is a myth that the Manager doesn’t assess the players, nor give them a fair chance, nor develop them.
That’s wrong, the evidence suggests all players get a chance to play and are assessed in training.
Players who were showing the potential, like Matt O’Riley, players who were recruited into the squad with the right qualities and attitude like Bernardo and players who were already at the Club but their potential hadn’t been realised like Liam Scales; have been identified and put on a rigorous development programme that has sown great results.
TIMBHOY163 @ 9:51 PM,
Think it’s about time Brendan Rogers and the club stop telling us that one minute we would like to add /2 or 3 Quality players in this month ,then he Rogers comes out and says it could be the in the summer before any transfers are done…’
The Club did not state how many players they were looking to bring in this window, they did state they had a recruitment model that they believed had been successful and were sticking with that model.
For several reasons, it was a very controversial statement as far as I’m concerned, yet let’s stick with that for now.
Since our new head of recruitment came in twenty months ago, we have brought in fifteen or so players that fit the “model”, a few are really kicking on, a few are in the development process and it looks like over half aren’t going to make it.
We are utilising a huge amount of our backroom resources on player development and we have an extremely bloated squad that needs reducing.
Under those circumstances, bringing in players this window that fit the “model” would simply compound this unsustainable situation.
Brendan stated he hoped to bring in established, quality players this window, however he made it clear that those players had to be better than we currently have andcwere going to improve the team.
He’s made it clear, if the right players aren’t available in this window, we would have to wait to the summer to strengthen.
An observation on development of moneyball players, that seems to becoming under the spotlight.
In over a decade of running this “model”, how many players have Celtic failed to develop, that went on to show they had had the potential to be of the requisite standard?
Of the dozen, dozen players involved, one comes to mind…
Hail Hail
Good morning all from a mild -2 Garngad.
A good wee read back that was. Gold star to everyone except BRRB as he will think its a Tin Star and he is the sheriff of whatever American toon he happens upon.
D. :)
Most unkind David. Tombstone shadow…
https://www.northern-scot.co.uk/sport/buckie-must-pay-for-var-and-celtic-wont-let-them-wear-the-h-337755/
Have Celtic really `refused` or is it more `not allowed`?
IF the former, I am disappointed.
Not going to get too involved in the KT merry go round this window, yet it was just interesting to see how things are panning out for him.
Arsenal are short at left back with Zinchenko injured and Tomiyasu going to the Asian Cup.
It was speculated that Arsenal would cut short his loan in Spain, Keiran has pooh-pooh’d that…
“Several people have asked me about this but the answer is no. I am definitely staying here [in January],” Tierney said. “Arsenal fans are great, they always gave me a lot of support. During the four years I was there, I will always be grateful to the fans.”
It sounds like he’s played his last game for Arsenal.
With Real Sociedad still in the UCL and Scotland playing in the Euros, it seems he is focused on his game away from the EPL.
Good on him, hope his wish to pull on the Hoops in anger sometime in the future comes to fruition.
Hail Hail
I might be totally wrong here, but, did we not play Liam Scales as a Left Back when he entered the first team? Jim Goodwin played him at left centre back and found his real position.
Perhaps bring Jim into the scouting department :)) por cierto
After expenses, Buckie will probably show a handsome profit of +£100,000 if we they sell the 5,000 tickets they’ve asked for, por cierto
POR CIERTO on 9TH JANUARY 2024 10:43 AM
I think a decent crowd at Celtic Park will garnish more than that for Buckie but do you know anything about the strip question I asked above?
POR CIERTO on 9TH JANUARY 2024 10:43 AM
I’m trying to work out the £9k cost for VAR, the technology is already in place ie cameras. So any additional cost would be two clowns in the VAR cupboard!
As regards the strip thing I would guess the majority would favour Buckie playing their top, just for the novelty.
“PRESTONPANS BHOYS on 9TH JANUARY 2024 11:10 AM
As regards the strip thing I would guess the majority would favour Buckie playing their top, just for the novelty.”
That is certainly my view but I think I read somewhere that the SFA won`t / don`t allow it to happen.
por cierto
Yes Liam Scales played initially at full back, first appearing for Celtic against Raith Rovers 3-0 in Sept 2021 in a League Cup tie. He also made his SPL debut away to Dundee United Dec 05 2021, as sub for Greg Taylor and scoring in 3-0 victory.
prestonpans bhoys
Actually I would prefer that Celtic wore Buckie Thistle’s hooped strip because it is a whole lot better than the Adidas top we have been wearing this season!
RE change strips
I believe there are rules in place.
From when I started going to the games (65-66) to well into the 70s, the home team changed in the event of a colour clash. Celtic v Queens Park in 66-67 in the Scottish Cup quarter final was just one example.
Other thing of note was that Sean Connery was a Celtic supporter that day.
I’m not sure when the “away kit” became a thing, but pretty sure it was sometime after 76-77 season as I think I can remember Celtic wearing the green strip with white socks at Celtic Park in a cup replay v Airdrie.
I also think Celtic wore yellow in a home European tie v Jeunesse d’esch of Luxembourg the following season.
Notable for being one of Brian McLsughlin’s last games for Celtic. I think he might have scored
new article posted.