Celtic are officially no longer part of the SPFL Reserve League, with the competition getting underway today.
The Hoops took part in its inaugural season last year. After what was only a total of 17 matches, the Hoops ultimately lost out on the final day to Rangers.
Yet there was a clear lack of games across the competitive season for the youngsters. Matches would often be played every fortnight, and it certainly took plenty away from the competition.
And the Hoops have officially decided not to return. They’ve been joined by Rangers, Aberdeen, St Johnstone, Hibernian, Dundee, Falkirk, and Partick Thistle in pulling out.
The new campaign of Reserve League football will see just 10 teams compete in the division. There are also now only six clubs from the top flight competing too.
Celtic Head of Youth Development Chris McCart stated last season that the competition wasn’t developing his youngsters. He believed too many Celtic youth players were at the stage where they were too good for reserve football but not good enough to break through at Parkhead (The Herald).
Celtic are making the right decision – but what now?
Rivals Rangers quite the SPFL Development League two years ago in order to play high-profile friendly matches. Regardless of them being our bitter foes, it certainly seems to have brought some of their youngsters on.
Current Celtic development star Liam Burt is one of the players who experienced some of these big games. Rangers managed to play against teams such as Liverpool, Bayern Munich, and Manchester City respectively. It will be interesting to see if Celtic go down a similar route.
But McCart is right to think that the Reserve League can only do so much for Celtic. Look at Jack Aitchison for example. How long has he been tearing things up at youth level? Yet, when he went on loan to Alloa and Dumbarton, he scored just one goal over the course of both spells away.
We need to find something that poses a greater challenge to our youngsters. Experiencing different types of football cultures could help them do that.
So far, there have been no plans released to the supporters regarding what we’re doing with our development side this season. After being knocked out of the Challenge Cup by Falkirk, we don’t know what’s now on the agenda.
Celtic will have plans in place, however, and it will be interesting to see if it mirrors that of Rangers’ idea from two years ago.
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