Celtic manager, Brendan Rodgers fires back at Chris Sutton’s “no environment” for the emerging 18-year-old prospect criticism

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has defended a recent team selection decision that drew criticism from prominent pundit Chris Sutton.

The former Bhoys striker questioned Rodgers’ use of youngster Daniel Kelly in the recent defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle, claiming in his Daily Record column that there was “no environment” for the emerging 18-year-old prospect.

Kelly played an additional half hour against Livingston in the Scottish Cup last week, and Rodgers takes issue with criticism of his involvement.

The Celtic manager is a big fan of the young midfielder and believes it is his responsibility to ensure the club is looking to the future by giving Academy players a chance to shine.

Brendan Rodgers on developing Daniel Kelly at Celtic

Rodgers did not specifically mention Sutton, but he did mention the media attention surrounding his use of Kelly at Tynecastle, with the outspoken pundit being the most prominent voice to raise the issue.

The Celtic manager stated in a media conference today [Celtic YouTube]: “I think anywhere on the pitch, my focus is always first and foremost on the young players. I think it was one of the first things I said when I came into the club in terms of the overall vision, is obviously to win titles, to play attacking football, and that’s the demand for Celtic. But to do it with as many of the young players from our academy as we possibly can.

“That is very difficult to get nine and ten players but certainly, this club has consistently had lots of really young players. Then you are trying to balance that between this mentality that the team win every single game.

“I read somewhere the other week, that we were actually being criticised for bringing a young player into the team which I find incredible. We bring Daniel Kelly on against Hearts – it was supposedly not what should’ve been done.

“Thankfully I look after the short and the longer term of the club, and that’s bringing young players in to develop, to improve, give them that experience and then hopefully they become better players because they need to get that experience.

“Hopefully, we can do that in the coming years, get those players in to help support the team and eventually become first-team players. That’s something that I will always focus on.”

Kelly has only made four appearances for the Bhoys, but he has looked sharp and ready to work his way into the squad as a rotation option. Every player begins somewhere.

Sutton’s overall point was about squad depth at a critical point in the season, which is fair to some extent, but emerging players must learn what it takes to win tense, pressure-packed games at Celtic.

It is preferable to invest minutes in Kelly, for example, than to keep David Turnbull around longer than he wants to be, with no benefit to long-term planning.

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