Football fans all love a Cinderella story, don’t they? They absolutely love it when a player comes through the academy and becomes a success at the club.
What they also love is how a player comes from obscurity, looks like he is on his way out of the club and then miraculously carves a name out for himself in the Celtic team.
Just look at Anthony Ralston. The Scotland defender had a sensational two seasons under Ange Postecoglou when it looked like his career was over.
And now it’s the turn of Liam Scales. You don’t need me to go over the backstory as I’ve covered his journey many times but it seems that he is an inspiration to players back in Ireland according to former Dundalk and Republic of Ireland u23 international, David McMillan.
McMillan said [RTE Soccer Podcast], “It’s an amazing story for him obviously. I saw Brendan Rodgers’ comments recently that he’s kind of one of the surprise players he has ever come across.
“I think Liam himself probably wanted out of Celtic in the summer to go and play football and didn’t expect to get games there with the competition there.
“He had obviously a good second half of the season with Aberdeen last year and injuries at Celtic have given him an opportunity to come in and he’s obviously impressed his manager.
“To be playing in those games in the Champions League it’s a phenomenal level to be playing at and it’s very rare that now, at the moment, to have any Irish player doing that as he’s the only one playing in the Champions League.
“It’s a brilliant story for any young League of Ireland player starting at the UCD like myself. And going on and did so well for Shamrock Rovers and then proving himself at the top level in the Scottish Premier League and in the Champions League and to get those first caps, it’s a real good story.”
It’s an incredible story to be honest. Even when Scales signed for Celtic from Shamrock Rovers, nobody had really heard of him so didn’t expect much.
But during Ange Postecoglou‘s first season, the Irishman did very well. He made 19 appearances scoring three goals and creating four. [Transfermarkt]
But the following season he fell down the pecking order due to the form of Greg Taylor and the £3.75m purchase of Alexandro Bernabei.
Now though, he is back and he has grabbed his chance with both hands and, so far, has not let himself or Celtic down. Let’s hope that continues on Sunday as Celtic travel to Edinburgh to take on Hearts.
