A good luck message from Ange Postecoglou and Callum McGregor provided the motivation for Celtic’s youngsters to triumph at Hampden.
They prevailed 6-5 over Rangers in a thrilling Scottish Youth Cup final with the senior side’s manager watching on with interest from the stands. Youth team coach Stuart McLaren reckons the 120 minute thriller was a great opportunity for Postecoglou to witness the talent coming through the academy, and an important for the teenagers on their road to making the grade at Celtic Park.
"I'm just so proud of the boys,” said McLaren. "It was a great advert and both teams showed some real quality. I'm delighted for the boys.
“Ange is quite happy to trust Darren O’Dea and Stephen McManus with their job, and me with my mine. There was a nice good luck message from him to the group, and to myself this morning, which was terrific, as well as one from all the other first team staff and Callum McGregor.
“That was a nice touch for the boys, and I think they really appreciated that. The good thing with the manager is there is a real continuity to how we’re working now, from the first team, to the B team, to ourselves, and obviously that’s filtering down through the academy.
“Every day is an opportunity, if it’s a day at training, miles out from a game or at a cup final, it’s an opportunity to try and impress him. It was great that he was here tonight to see some of the quality we’ve got.
“He’s obviously a busy man with a very important job, and he’s not physically active at every game, he’s certainly got his finger on the pulse.
“He knows, well and truly, what’s happening with each one of the players and how they’re progressing. We’ll keep trying to establish that pipeline and have more of our younger players progressing, and hopefully see more debuts like we’ve had this year with Ben Summers and Rocco Vata.”
