A STRIKING SIMILARITY
Old Firm can’t rear own frontmen but Nevin thinks it helps our game
It’s now over 40 years since Celtic reared a top-class striker.
And 50 years have elapsed since Rangers brought one through the ranks at Ibrox. Those statistics will alarm parents of youngsters signed to either of the
Glasgow giants.
Pat Nevin and Billy Dodds reckon the pressure on the Old Firm pair to win trophies means that kids are squeezed out. Charlie Nicholas was the last great goalscorer to emerge from the youth system at Parkhead. After his debut in 1980, he went on to score 84 goals in 117 games for his boyhood heroes.
He helped the Hoops claim two titles and scored a stunning goal in a 2-1 League Cup Final win over Rangers. When he joined Arsenal in 1983 for £750,000 he became Britain’s highest-paid player.
A second spell at Parkhead wasn’t as successful but he ended up with 127 goals in 254 appearances for the club. The likes of Simon Donnelly, Mark Burchill and Craig Beattie have briefly shone and played for Scotland.
But none could match Nicholas who earned 20 Scotland caps and started up front at the 1986 World Cup.
Derek Johnstone is arguably the last great home-grown Rangers frontman but he made his debut in 1970. He scored 210 goals in 546 outings, despite playing many matches as a centre-half.
Since then only Derek Parlane has emerged (he made his debut in 1971) and gone on to play for Scotland while with the club. So why do the Old Firm have such a poor record at rearing frontmen?
Nevin played for Celtic Boys’ Club but was punted for being too small. Despite that, he went on to have a successful career at Chelsea and Everton.
The winger said: “I was a Celtic fan but there didn’t appear to be an obvious pathway to the first team. They let me go because I was too wee and it was the best thing that happened to me.
“I played for Clyde for three seasons before I got my move to Stamford Bridge, which wouldn’t have happened if I’d stayed with Celtic. Asking someone to go from reserve football to Chelsea is like asking someone to go to university after missing three years at school.
“If my son had been good enough to attract offers from Celtic, Rangers,
Hibs and Hearts then I’d send him to an Edinburgh club – he’d have more chance of progressing there.
“Imagine being a young striker with Celtic in the mid-90s, when you were competing with Paolo Di Canio, Pierre van Hooijdonk, Jorge Cadete and Henrik Larsson?
“It’s a good thing for Scottish football because most parents will tell their boys to go elsewhere for experience.
“If they’re good enough then Celtic and Rangers will come back in for them.”
Dodds supported Rangers as a boy but had to wait until he was 30 before joining them from Dundee United.
The BBC Scotland pundit said: “Even when I was signed by Dick Advocaat it was only because Michael Mols had been injured. Basically, I was a back-up and had to force my way into the team but
I’d been playing for Scotland for three years at that stage.
“When you pay £12million for Tore
Andre Flo then you’re going to have to play him. Celtic or Rangers have won the league for the last 36 years so the pressure at both clubs is immense.
“They don’t have time to nurture kids and can’t afford to be patient so they go down the foreign route or buy the finished article elsewhere.
“I’d love to see young Scottish strikers sitting on the bench for
Celtic and Rangers and maybe getting 20 minutes here and there but they don’t even get that. My one hope is that they’ll get more of a chance because Brexit means our clubs won’t be able to sign uncapped foreigners.”
Then again, the national team’s attacking options largely consist of Lyndon
Dykes (born in Australia) and Oli McBurnie (born in
England) so former
Scotland No.2 Mark
McGhee fears that the strikers might not be there.
“It’s a numbers game,” he said. “When I was at school in the early 70s there were
500,000 boys playing for
10-20 hours every week.
“Now you’ll be lucky if there are 100,000 playing four hours a week.
“The pool of talent is shallower and I don’t think the Academy system helps.”