Former Celtic scout, John McGlynn, has delivered a fascinating insight into recruitment under Brendan Rodgers during the Irishman’s first spell at the club.
McGlynn was hired during the Ronny Deila era in 2015 and was moved from the recruitment team just at the beginning of Rodgers’ first tenure at the club into an Opposition Analyst role.
But before that move, McGlynn worked under Chief Scout, John Park, as they looked to identify players for former boss Ronny Deila and what McGlynn shares here will dispel a long-held view that the majority of players signed at Celtic were thrust upon the manager.
McGlynn said [Open Goal], “I got an interview and I got the job. So it was scouting and we were all over the place. But I enjoyed it.
“It was really, really good and a great insight into working with the guys within that in the background of that as to how much work goes into how they look at players.
“Now when I went in there it was in January of 2015 and that was when they signed Gary Mackay-Steven, Stuart Armstrong and Nadir Ciftci.
“That was just happening just as I kind of got employed there. So it was great to see how in-depth they were analyzing Armstrong and Mackay-Steven and Ciftci against players and comparing them as to what they’re going to bring.
“I dare say the manager or maybe John Park would have to put that to the board to say this is why we want to bring these players into the football club.
Celtic’s recruitment has come under some serious scrutiny over this past season and many fans hold a view that the vast majority of players that are signed by the club are done so without input from the manager’s knowledge.
Now I understand that 2015 was a long time ago and that things can change but I suppose it is comforting to know that there is at least a semblance of a recruitment team looking to identify players and that the manager does get involved in making a decision on them.
Let’s hope that the team can identify better players for the upcoming summer transfer window because if the quality of players does not start to improve we could see ourselves falling behind our rivals for the first time in years.
In other news, ‘Toxic’… Mark Guidi suggests Dermot Desmond may need to make ‘unpopular’ decision at Celtic
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