New Celtic scout James Bell-Walker breaks silence and is toasted by ex-Rangers chief as board stay silent

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Celtic have made an important addition to their backroom team on the eve of the Rangers game but have mysteriously kept quiet about it.

Celtic face Rangers in the first Glasgow Derby of the season and while Wilfried Nancy was busy announcing new Bhoy Julian Araujo, the board made an important addition to the scouting team.

Former Chelsea scout, James Bell-Walker joined the Celtic recruitment on New Year’s day and will get to work immediately to help Nancy identify new talent.

But as Celtic strangely say nothing about the new arrival, Bell-Walker had to introduce himself to the Parkhead support as the club kept tight-lipped.

• READ MORE: What Chris Sutton said about Wilfried Nancy beating Rangers won’t matter to many Celtic fans

James Bell-Walker announces Celtic arrival and is welcomed by Nils Koppen

Celtic have been criticised for their recruitment of late so many fans would have been delighted to hear news that the club have decided to rectify that.

But as nothing comes out of the club about Bell-Walker’s arrival, it was left to the new Celtic scout to announce his own arrival on LinkedIn.

Bell-Walker simply said, “New adventure starts today. Delighted to be joining Celtic, a huge club with huge ambitions.”

Let’s hope he’s correct with that statement as many fans believe that Celtic have no ambition, especially when it comes to Europe.

The new Hoops man was welcomed by Nils Koppen as the former Rangers technical director Nils Koppen replied, “Congratulations James! Catch up soon.”

Liverpool’s global talent spotter Tika Musonda replied, “Congratulations James, and good luck in your new adventure!”

And even former Celtic scout Michael Docherty reacted to the news and said, “Congratulations James. Great club I am sure you will do well mate.”

Who is new Celtic scout James Bell-Walker?

Bell-Walker is Chelsea’s former Senior International Scout, a role he held for around 18 months.

Prior to that, the new Celtic scout was the Head of Recruitment for Bolton Wanderers for three years after he was hired initially as their Head of Technical Scouting.

Bell-Walker also spent eight years at Everton from 2005 employed as their Scout Coordinator and Recruitment Analyst for the youth academy where his main duties were managing reports, fixture scheduling and trialist procedures as well as working with their Performance Analysis team to build a database of talent.

Hopefully, Bell-Walker’s experience will help Celtic improve their recruitment strategy which has come under fire over the last few years from fans.