Aiden McGeady Questions Celtic’s Youth Development: ‘What Are We Doing Wrong?’

Former Celtic star Aiden McGeady has given a challenge to the club’s young talents, speaking to the Herald on the importance of demonstrating their quality on the pitch rather than relying on structured opportunities to secure first-team football.

McGeady, who rose through Celtic’s academy during an era of intense comPetition under Martin O’Neill, highlighted the challenges he faced as a young player trying to earn a spot in one of the strongest Celtic squads in recent memory.

He drew comparisons to today’s Game, questioning why other nations are able to consistently produce top-level talent while Scotland appears to lag behind.

“No manager is ever just going to get rid of three or four players and almost set a team up to give young players a chance. That’s not how it works.

“A manager is looking after his job. He wants the best players on the park. So, you have to prove that you’re good. People say to me, how did you have such a long career? Well, why? Because I proved I was better than the guys that were ahead of me. That’s the way Football is. Football is dog-eat-dog. It’s a ruthless environment.

“Young players coming through nowadays, they keep talking about the pathway, and that’s fine. But how come other teams and other countries can have a conveyor belt churning out talent year after year after year? What are we doing wrong here? It can’t just be in the water, is it?.

“It’s clearly in the fundamentals that they’re being taught from a young age filtering up the chain. Whereas here…it’s quite an easy throwaway comment, that one, that there’s more foreigners now, there’s more money. Well, there’s not more money. When I played for Celtic, I came through probably one of the hardest Celtic teams to break into.”

McGeady’s comments come as a pointed reminder amidst ongoing concerns about youth development in Scottish Football as a whole, not just at Celtic.

In recent years the club have watched young talents head elsewhere, struggling to keep them with the club.

You see it when it comes to the national side especially. The players are ageing, and apart from Ben Doak breaking through, there isn’t much hope.

Young Lennon Miller at Motherwell is the best young prospect in the SPFL at the moment, and Celtic should be looking to sign him up, but the question marks surrounding the Hoops’ own youth exports still exist.