It was no surprise to learn Kyle Ure’s role model is Callum McGregor.
The 17-year-old midfielder captained Celtic to the Scottish Youth Cup on Wednesday night with a man of the match display the club skipper would have approved of. Ure was a picture of poise and composure in an otherwise bonkers 120 minutes as the Parkhead youngsters incredibly ran out 6-5 winners after extra-time in a Hampden final that had everything – individual brilliance, blunders, a penalty and a red card.
McGregor himself was a youth cup winner in his early days – four years in a row, to be precise – and has since gone on to capture 17 major honours in a glittering career. For Ure, it’s now simply a case of trying to forge a similar path.
“Hopefully I’m the same and this can continue,” the teenager said. “He’s a great role model. He plays the same position as me. I can look at his game and try to take bits from it and add it to mine.
“The way he conducts himself on and off the pitch is remarkable and he’d a great role model for me.
“He’s someone I aspire to, the club captain and a perfect example of what it takes to become a professional football player and the captain of Celtic.
“He wished us good luck, and told us to stay calm and play our game which we tried. We tried to play our game and stick to the style. I thought attacking wise we did.
“The way our rotations work and the way we play… But defensively, the whole team needs to get better. With those wee changes it would be the perfect performance.
“The manager just said the same – good luck, stay composed, nothing changes.
“At the end of the day it’s a game of football. If we play our own game we know that we can beat anybody on our day but our performance needs to come and I thought tonight in an attacking sense we showed that.”
The Celtic youngsters received a pre-match good luck message from both McGregor and Ange Postecoglou, the latter taking up a seat at Hampden to cast an eye over the club’s next generation.
B-team prospects Rocco Vata and Ben Summers have found themselves in and around the senior setup this season, albeit opportunities on the pitch have been scarce. Ure, though, says those working their way up the ranks know there is a route to the first team if they can grasp it.
"We see there’s a pathway there,” he insisted. “You can see that if you are good enough the manager will put you in.
“Our aim is to get up to the B team and then from the B team to the first-team. It’s always just a process that keeps providing good opportunities for players.
“It’s games that as players you’d love to play in. We just need to take it step by step and hopefully get to the first-team one day and become like Callum McGregor and James Forrest - players who have come through the academy and have established themselves in the first-team and become Celtic legends.”
