Mcintyre brushes off ‘B’ teams controversy ahead of Bonnyrigg Rose clash
It isn’t often a first game between two clubs could be described as a grudge match.
The term has resonance, though, for Celtic B team’s inaugural encounter in the Lowland League that will see them head for Midlothian to face Bonnyrigg Rose today.
Bonnyrigg were opposed to the inclusion of Celtic and Rangers B teams in the set-up for season 2021 -22. In a statement issued in May, the New Dundas Park club revealed that, following a consultation with members and supporters, 95 per cent were against the move. It set aside sporting integrity, they maintained, owing to the Glasgow clubs not earning promotion to the Lowland League from the tier of the pyramid below it.
Celtic B team manager Tommy Mcintyre yesterday had no interest engaging with the controversies surrounding the initiative - which will be a one-season only redrawing of the country’s league structure, with SPFL clubs rejecting proposals for the two B teams to be co-opted into League Two for season 2022-23. “We are there and my only focus is the game,” he said, revealing that, in theory, players will be able to switch between the club’s B and senior team, providing they do not cross a threshold of first-team outings.
Mcintyre said Celtic’s B team will be “super young”, with players integrated into it from theclub’sunder-17sandunder18s set-up in a bid to create essentially a stepping stone.
“No doubt there will be a lot of people looking in to see how it progresses,” said Mcintyre. “[Our young players] can be a wee bit mollecoddled at times, it’s a nice environment in here, now they are out in the big world. They will take a few knocks, no doubt about that, but we are trying to recreate the halfway between youth and first team."