Ronny Deila keen to see Celtic B team play in lower leagues
Friday 20 November 2015 17:29, UK
Celtic manager Ronny Deila says he would like to see the champions' B team play in the lower leagues in Scotland.
The spotlight has fallen on the Scottish game after the national side failed to reach the finals of Euro 2016, with the development of young players at the heart of the ongoing debate.
And Deila believes a starting point would be clubs having second teams playing competitive football to help bridge the gap between U20s football and the first team.
Speaking after attending the club's AGM, the Norwegian said: "I have seen that in Spain and they have done it for many years in Norway, it is very good.
"We want to bring players in to train with the first team when they are 16 or 17 years old, like Kieran Tierney and Aidan Nesbitt, and we do that.
"When they get to the age of 19 or 20 I think playing in the U20s team is too easy for them and also it is a big gap between playing for the U20s and playing at Celtic Park and playing for Celtic.
"So we have to find something in between which is why we put players like Liam Henderson out on loan (at Hibs) so he can be important in a team which fights every week for points and it really matters what he does on the pitch.
"So to have a second team in the league is very good. Of course that is a big change but you look around in Europe and see what's happening. More and more talent are going to the bigger clubs, and there are big squads so it is important that numbers 20 to 30 get a good challenge."
"If we have our best second team then we can maybe challenge for the Championship, maybe in the second division, but it would be very good to put young players into that environment and play important matches in good stadiums with games that really count."
