Our highly promising Under 18 team were given the perfect boost for Tuesday’s Scottish Youth Cup third round tie at home to Hamilton. They were inspired by watching three former graduates of our youth system involved in Scotland’s Saturday night 4-0 win in Albania, with Ryan Christie and Stuart Armstrong starring in midfield and Graeme Shinnie on the bench. Ryan, in particular, attracted rave notices for his energetic and skilful showing, building on his recent outstanding form for Celtic. He assisted in two of the goals and was constantly in the thick of the action, influencing the game.
Ryan, who is 23 and was sold to Celtic for a club record fee, will be featuring at Hampden on Tuesday night in the decisive Nations Cup match against Israel – at the same time that our Class of 2018 face up to Hamilton.
Our young players could not ask for a better incentive to make the grade. Ryan, Stuart and Graeme have all shown that through hard work, application and dedication, skill will be rewarded with success.
Ryan Christie, Graeme Shinnie and Stuart Armstrong all started in Tuesday night’s 3-2 win for Scotland against Israel at Hampden Park as the national team secured a Euro 2020 play-off place.
Attacking player, Roddy MacGregor, is the latest Under 18 player to make his first team debut and all the signs are there that many more will follow as our investment in youth development pays dividends.