Lee McCulloch couldn’t hide his Celtic envy when talking about the club’s ability to bring players through their academy in comparison to Rangers.
From Kieran Tierney to the latest star being tipped to play for Scotland, Ben Doak, who is now of Liverpool, the Celtic youth academy continues to roll out the players.
But Lee McCulloch doesn’t think Rangers have been able to match, as he highlighted now-Everton defender Nathan Patterson as the only success from Ibrox in recent times, as he told PLZ Soccer.
At the start of the campaign, Celtic fans were told about Rangers’ summer recruitment and how they were going to, alongside Michael Beale, dethrone the Treble winners from their top spot.
Well, that didn’t last long because it all fell flat on its face, with those summer signings proving to be very poor captures and costing Michael Beale his job.
As a result, Lee McCulloch wants the new Rangers boss Philippe Clement to use their academy to give youth a chance, as he highlighted how Celtic have shown how it should be done.
Celtic and Rangers youth academy
“It has been a while since a player or players have come through the youth system at Ibrox and went to kick on,” said McCulloch. “Nathan Patterson being the latest one.
“But, other than that, there hasn’t been a conveyor belt, which if you compare it to Celtic, you have got McGregor, Tierney and Forrest coming through.
“I think he (Clement) is going to need to address putting in some youth from now until the next transfer window.”
Celtic excellence
There isn’t much you can criticise the club for, at the moment, even with Ange Postecoglou leaving for Tottenham this summer.
Everything is built to the highest of excellence from recruitment to reacting to unplanned situations, such as the above.
And now with Brendan Rodgers holding a seven-point lead at the top, this is an ample chance, heading into the Rangers game in December, to open up the lead to double-figure points.
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