I believed in Rogic when nobody else did. He can take on the world now
SAYS FORMER AUSTRALIA COACH RON SMITH
Tommy can do more in half an hour than other players do over 90 minutes
RON SMITH saw something in the awkward, skinny kid with shuffling, quick feet right from the start.
Asked by a friend to whip a group of ten-year-old boys in a Canberra suburb into shape, Smith was a renowned talent-spotter on the Australian scene. Head coach at the National Institute of Sport for ten years, he knew a prospect when he saw one.
The former Tottenham youth player had overseen generations of Socceroos internationals.
Kevin Muscat, Mark Viduka and Craig Moore were three of them, and Tom Rogic, the tall, gangly kid in the Canberra shadows, was about to become the Londoner’s latest contribution to a Glasgow derby.
Rogic marked his return to fitness with a stunning Celtic equaliser in Sunday’s 3-2 victory over Rangers.
This summer, he will be a key player for the Australian national team in Russia. He owes much of this to the veteran Englishman who believed in him when no one else would give him the time of day.
‘I had a friend who was coaching some ten-year-olds and he asked me to come and have a look at them,’ Smith tells Sportsmail. ‘He wanted me to teach them some good habits.
‘Tommy was a big boy. By the age of 14, he was six foot tall. Like he is now.
‘But he kept being rejected and overlooked by representative teams because he was born on December 16. He was a baby compared to other players in his age group born in January and February the same year. But my friend and I kept encouraging him because we saw he had something.
‘Eventually, I saw something perfect for him. I nominated him for the Nike scheme.’
The Chance was football’s equivalent of the X-Factor. Effectively a talent contest offering places at the Nike UK academy to unattached kids who slipped through the net, the worldwide scheme sold dreams to the disenfranchised.
‘I nominated Tommy when he was 17,’ recalls Smith.
‘He was sent to England for a trial along with a hundred other kids from all over the world and he was one of eight kids who got scholarships.
‘He spent six months in England and got offered a number of opportunities to go to English Premier League clubs.
‘Reading were keen, but he couldn’t get a work permit for English football.
‘He came back here and I had worked with Graham Arnold, a good friend of mine, with the national team for ten years.
‘I said to him: “There’s a gem of a kid here”. Graham signed him for Central Coast Mariners in the A League. The rest, as they say, is history.’
A Celtic player for five years, recognition of the Australian’s talent has been a slow burn.
He was sent back to Melbourne Victory on loan for the second half of season 2013-14.
His biggest problems have always come from within.
A recurring groin injury ruled Rogic out of the 2014 World Cup after he limped from a closed-door game in Brazil just hours before coach Ange Postecoglou named his squad.
Returning to Celtic, he made a breakthrough in Ronny Deila’s second season. A magnificent strike against Kilmarnock won Celtic’s goal of the season and established something of a pattern.
When Rogic scores, it’s rarely a mundane affair. Last season, he tormented Aberdeen in two cup finals as Celtic secured only the fourth Treble in their history under Brendan Rodgers. Sunday’s goal at Ibrox illustrated a rare ability to use his quick feet to glide past players in the middle of the pitch before finishing from 20 yards. ‘I was really happy when he went to Celtic,’ adds Smith (left). ‘It was a bit of a marriage made in heaven because they are going to dominate most of the matches they play. ‘I knew Tommy needed to be in a team that have all of the ball rather than brief snatches. ‘Wherever he is, be it Celtic or somewhere else, he has to play for a top team. He needs to play for a side which controls games and lets him play. ‘That’s the only way you will get full value out of him.’ Smith has never made any bones over the midfielder’s Achilles heel. Even fully fit, Rogic rarely makes it to the end of 90 minutes in a Celtic team where midfielders are expected to contribute to a high-intensity press.
‘The sad thing is that I learned from training and testing players for ten years at the Australian Institute in Canberra that there is only so much you can do to affect the physical side of a player’s game,’ says Smith.
‘The fact is that you get some people who play the whole game for 90 minutes and are nowhere near as effective as Tommy is in 30 minutes.
‘He has such quick feet and that talent would be wasted turning him into a holding midfield player just to get him through 90 minutes.
‘He gives you too much in terms of creativity and passing.’
A former Technical Manager with the Socceroos, who stood in as national coach before the appointment of Guus Hiddink in 2005, Smith’s hope is that, this time, Rogic will go to the World Cup this summer.
‘If he is fit, he is the No 10 — without question,’ says Smith.
‘He is liable to do something in a game that is going to turn it around for you.
‘That’s what you need at a World Cup.
‘His ability to find people and deliver passes in tight spots is excellent.
‘Plus being able to beat people and score spectacular goals.
‘I’ve seen a number of goals he’s scored for Celtic from outside the box and the one against Rangers shows what he can do. He has a great left peg.
‘A good 60 minutes out of Tommy Rogic can win you a match a lesser player might not if he plays for 180.’
A successful World Cup poses obvious dangers for Celtic.
Out of contract in the summer of 2019, Rogic is in no hurry to sign a new deal.
The chance to place himself in the ultimate shop window is one he feels compelled to take.
‘Whether he stays at Celtic or not, he is in a great place,’ adds Smith, 68.
‘I know Celtic have a great track record of unearthing talent and moving on players for big money. Look at Virgil van Dijk.
‘He has made that transition and gone to Liverpool at a similar age to what Tom is now.
‘I’m sure Celtic will want to keep him. But money talks. If it didn’t, he’d still be back home playing in the Australian A-League.’