Semi-pro circuit a weak challenge for youths

A one-season trial in the Lowland League for Celtic’s B team, the fifth tier of Scottish football, got the green light yesterday.  It will present nowhere near the level of challenge I think our youth players need, but at least they will face men, not aspiring boys who themselves may end up on the semi-pro circuit.

They need to compete against sides the calibre of the Falkirk team that visited Celtic Park on Scottish Cup duty last month.  They are currently mid-table in League One, but have the wherewithal needed to test and develop the best of Celtic’s youths.

There was a hope that the current economic position of the SPFL’s lower league clubs would make them agreeable to any opponent that could muster more than a dozen visitors per game, but despite the financial argument, online fan pressure groups like to say “no” to pretty much anything, so that proposition never got off the ground.  We will see if the impact of forgoing this income to the benefit of the Lowland League changes minds going forward.