Lee O'Connor

Pogue Mahone

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Played 90 minutes in central midfield again. Lost one nil against a French team that was much bigger, stronger and better. We had a few 16 years old on the pitch so it was literally men against boys.

Lee cleared one off the line and was generally neat, tidy and disciplined without really standing out.
 

limerickcitykid

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Would prefer a loan first but hopefully something goes through before the deadline. Wasting his time here. Would prefer a league that players better football than SPL though and they aren't playing their other recent young signings either.
 
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izec

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He wont play much here, smart move to leave. He probably feels like playing first team football soon
 

limerickcitykid

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That would be such a shame if it’s permanent. Although I am a little biased he definitely has something about him. I reckon he’ll be a success wherever he goes.
Similarly biased but he's being messed about here. People close to the academy have indicated the staff view his future as a full-back but they've then largely refused to play him as a full-back. It has been clear his development is low on the totem pole of their concerns. He's been pushed all over the place playing on the left to accommodate a poor player like Tanner and then forced centrally to accommodate the lack of any good CBs. Laird and Williams are clearly the two favoured and prioritised. He's wasting his time here at this point and is better off elsewhere. He's one of Ireland's biggest talents and we can't afford to waste him.

Highly debatable if that is Celtic though. SPL is low level and doesn't suit his style. They've also just signed Afolabi and Luca Connell and yet to even include them in a matchday squad. So if it'll just be more of that then there is very little point of going there. I don't know enough about Neil Lennon to know his ideology of integrating youth players, you might shed more light on that.

How come we send so few players on loan these days?
We have 11 out with 2 being senior players.

Our squad is thin so we've just been promoting players instead of loans. Rashford, Mason, Angel, Chong, McTominay, Garner, and Axel are all in around the first team instead of loans. Only Axel has spent time out due to the depth of CBs. TFM is also back due to injury. So that cuts down on some who would/could have gone out. Chong turned down a loan move this season.

Additionally we've released a whole load of players at 19-20. We kept Matty Willock for no reason on our books until he was almost 23 despite never being anywhere near good enough. We could have kept the likes of Bohui, DJ, Dearnley etc. for another year or two and loaned them but we've decided to just release them instead. Nishan Burkhart also went on a permanent instead of taking a loan.

We also just don't sent that many players on loans. So promotion of the best and release of the worst instead of loans would account for any decline.
 

Pogue Mahone

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Similarly biased but he's being messed about here. People close to the academy have indicated the staff view his future as a full-back but they've then largely refused to play him as a full-back. It has been clear his development is low on the totem pole of their concerns. He's been pushed all over the place playing on the left to accommodate a poor player like Tanner and then forced centrally to accommodate the lack of any good CBs. Laird and Williams are clearly the two favoured and prioritised. He's wasting his time here at this point and is better off elsewhere. He's one of Ireland's biggest talents and we can't afford to waste him.

Highly debatable if that is Celtic though. SPL is low level and doesn't suit his style. They've also just signed Afolabi and Luca Connell and yet to even include them in a matchday squad. So if it'll just be more of that then there is very little point of going there. I don't know enough about Neil Lennon to know his ideology of integrating youth players, you might shed more light on that.


We have 11 out with 2 being senior players.

Our squad is thin so we've just been promoting players instead of loans. Rashford, Mason, Angel, Chong, McTominay, Garner, and Axel are all in around the first team instead of loans. Only Axel has spent time out due to the depth of CBs. TFM is also back due to injury. So that cuts down on some who would/could have gone out. Chong turned down a loan move this season.

Additionally we've released a whole load of players at 19-20. We kept Matty Willock for no reason on our books until he was almost 23 despite never being anywhere near good enough. We could have kept the likes of Bohui, DJ, Dearnley etc. for another year or two and loaned them but we've decided to just release them instead. Nishan Burkhart also went on a permanent instead of taking a loan.

We also just don't sent that many players on loans. So promotion of the best and release of the worst instead of loans would account for any decline.
Ok, interesting, thanks. He’s arguably a victim of his own versatility. He’s been playing in central midfield for the Irish U19s.

I’m afraid I know next to nothing about Neil Lennon and youth development.
 
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Adnan

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I have heard that the lad preferred playing at CB a while ago and didn't like playing at fullback.
 

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Shame, he’s not going to get any games at RB and we seem to see him as that. Hope we have a buy back in if we do sell him.
 

Bastian

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Why the feck would we sell him when we can loan him out? It's not like it's a big pile of quality ahead of him either. This fecking club..
 

Kostov

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Selling this kid without giving him a chance is laughable. He is only a part of a great group but the kid is quality nonetheless. We should loan him out first, he will turn out to be a very good player.
 

Lash

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Why the feck would we sell him when we can loan him out? It's not like it's a big pile of quality ahead of him either. This fecking club..
Selling this kid without giving him a chance is laughable. He is only a part of a great group but the kid is quality nonetheless. We should loan him out first, he will turn out to be a very good player.
He may have asked to leave you know...
 

Bastian

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He may have asked to leave you know...
If that is the case then that's a problem in itself. Why would a highly promising defender at a club with a host of shit defenders want to leave?
 

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As an Irishman I'd be sad to see him move on. I didn't see him making it here but I'm still surprised we didn't give him a year on loan to see how he handled it before giving up on him. He's a talented lad.
 

Rozay

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Was clear for a while he wasn’t going to make it here. This move is best for him. When I first saw him at about 16, he looked a natural footballer. Played in defence but looked as if he could play #10 if asked to. He was skipping past strikers all day, yet so tiny.

As he’s gotten older though, he’s certainly looked less ‘special’, although I can’t speak for his international performances. I don’t think he ultimately had the physical attributes to go to the very top in the modern game. It fast enough at full-back, and too small at centre half. He also spent way too much time playing anywhere BUT right back for us, despite obviously being a right back, which has likely fecked his development.

Other younger players were getting a senior look in ahead of him, and others of the same age group were also being signed for big money. He has talent though, he’s a natural footballer. Think he could end up at CM personally.
 

pocco

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It wasn't long ago that everyone was dead excited about this lad. He'd been playing in midfield for the national team in his age group and iirc, he'd been scoring goals and looking really threatening going forward. Not heard much about him since then as i don't follow youth football that much these days.
 

Ramshock

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Was clear for a while he wasn’t going to make it here. This move is best for him. When I first saw him at about 16, he looked a natural footballer. Played in defence but looked as if he could play #10 if asked to. He was skipping past strikers all day, yet so tiny.

As he’s gotten older though, he’s certainly looked less ‘special’, although I can’t speak for his international performances. I don’t think he ultimately had the physical attributes to go to the very top in the modern game. It fast enough at full-back, and too small at centre half. He also spent way too much time playing anywhere BUT right back for us, despite obviously being a right back, which has likely fecked his development.

Other younger players were getting a senior look in ahead of him, and others of the same age group were also being signed for big money. He has talent though, he’s a natural footballer. Think he could end up at CM personally.
Wasn't clear to.everyone
 

Sean_RedDevil

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He had no chance to play in the first team as centre-back because of his height and to get games as full-back were slim too because of Laird & Williams......to be in Celtic's first team is obviously better than another season here with U23 football.
 

Bastian

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Would very much like to know the details of the deal. Sell-on clause? Buy-back option? And the actual fee..
 

mav_9me

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He had no chance to play in the first team as centre-back because of his height and to get games as full-back were slim too because of Laird & Williams......to be in Celtic's first team is obviously better than another season here with U23 football.
Good move to leave club in search of gametime at senior level. Whether that's at Celtic time will tell.

I would be surprised if there was no buy back clause/ at the very least a sell on.
 

SteveW

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Saddened by this. Would have loved to have seen an Irish lad come through the system here. He's a good player.

Probably better for Ireland at least if he can start getting regular first team football. The way looked blocked for him here.

Best of luck to him.
 

In Rainbows

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I'm pretty upset about this news. Though I'm not surprised because it was clear the staff didn't rate him like they do others. He always had to sacrifice himself by playing all over because others can't do the same.
 

Sterling Archer

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I'm pretty upset about this news. Though I'm not surprised because it was clear the staff didn't rate him like they do others. He always had to sacrifice himself by playing all over because others can't do the same.
Not English enough for Ole.
 

Bastian

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Similarly biased but he's being messed about here. People close to the academy have indicated the staff view his future as a full-back but they've then largely refused to play him as a full-back. It has been clear his development is low on the totem pole of their concerns. He's been pushed all over the place playing on the left to accommodate a poor player like Tanner and then forced centrally to accommodate the lack of any good CBs. Laird and Williams are clearly the two favoured and prioritised. He's wasting his time here at this point and is better off elsewhere. He's one of Ireland's biggest talents and we can't afford to waste him.

Highly debatable if that is Celtic though. SPL is low level and doesn't suit his style. They've also just signed Afolabi and Luca Connell and yet to even include them in a matchday squad. So if it'll just be more of that then there is very little point of going there. I don't know enough about Neil Lennon to know his ideology of integrating youth players, you might shed more light on that.


We have 11 out with 2 being senior players.

Our squad is thin so we've just been promoting players instead of loans. Rashford, Mason, Angel, Chong, McTominay, Garner, and Axel are all in around the first team instead of loans. Only Axel has spent time out due to the depth of CBs. TFM is also back due to injury. So that cuts down on some who would/could have gone out. Chong turned down a loan move this season.

Additionally we've released a whole load of players at 19-20. We kept Matty Willock for no reason on our books until he was almost 23 despite never being anywhere near good enough. We could have kept the likes of Bohui, DJ, Dearnley etc. for another year or two and loaned them but we've decided to just release them instead. Nishan Burkhart also went on a permanent instead of taking a loan.

We also just don't sent that many players on loans. So promotion of the best and release of the worst instead of loans would account for any decline.
Where to?
 

amolbhatia50k

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Wasn't he the one everyone was gushing about, since he was such a natural footballer and similar to Lahm?