Ben Doak showing what might have been at Celtic

Congratulations to Scotland on a hard fought victory over a decent Croatian side at Hampden in the nations league last night. Granted the Croatians had ten men for the entirety of the second half, but still, it was an impressive result all the same.

Our very own Tony Ralston also played and had a decent game which was good to see, but one familiar name stole the show, and that of course was young Ben Doak, who is of course a product of the Celtic Academy.

The young Liverpool winger who is currently on loan at English championship side Middlesbrough had a fine game as he gave the experienced Croatians a difficult time.

He was also instrumental in John McGinn’s winning goal as his craft and guile laid on the opportunity for the Aston Villa man to hit the back of the net and send the Hampden crowd home happy.

Ben Doak came through the Celtic youth system and made his debut at the tender age of 16 under Ange Postecoglou. Indeed the Aussie had that much confidence in the youngster that he gave him an appearance from the bench in that unforgettable Glasgow Derby under the lights at Celtic Park in February 2022 where Celtic won 3-0 and went to the top of the league. It’s where we have stayed pretty much ever since.

Unfortunately Ben’s talent attracted significant interest from down south with Liverpool making him an offer he couldn’t refuse. He signed for the Reds and made the move to Merseyside before he had even became a regular  part of the Celtic first team squad.

His performance last night showed that we were denied the opportunity of seeing a fantastic player coming through the youth ranks and establishing a place in the first team at Celtic.

Granted no one knows what might have been had Ben stayed, but he has undoubted ability and would have definitely been involved in the first team picture had he committed his future to Celtic and not jumped ship for the first big offer from down south.

This is yet another example of how important it is to hang on to our young talent. It might be difficult, but we’ve got to try harder than before. And there needs to be a clearer pathway to the first team.

Currently it is hard to find any fault with the way things are going under Brendan Rodgers but one observation might be worth making. Brendan uses the five subs rule very effectively indeed to get minutes into the wider squad and to rotate so that he has 15 or 16 first team players all up to speed in terms of match sharpness.

You can appreciate the logic in that but surely there’s room in matches which are effectively won to bring on Academy players and give them a taste of first team football? Giving young Daniel Cummings a quarter of an hour in a number of games could and probably would see him hit the back of the net and grow in stature and confidence as a result.

So if we are 3-0 up at Celtic Park on 75 minutes what have we got to lose by giving youth a chance?