The Big Interview Billy Stark

The Scotland U-21 manager is eagerly looking forward to Celtic taking on Ajax this week.

Billy Stark believes the meeting of the Scottish champions with their Dutch counterparts is one of genuine significance for the national game.

However, it is not Neil Lennon’s date in the Amsterdam ArenA on Wednesday he is looking forward to. Rather, it is the UEFA Youth League fixture that John Kennedy’s Under-19 Hoops will play 24 hours earlier at the Sportpark De Toekomst that has his attention.

“Celtic’s win over Ajax in the Champions League the other week was obviously a huge deal and got loads of publicity,” says Stark. “It was their first victory of the Group, and well deserved.

“What maybe got missed, though, was the fact the same day the club’s Under-19s beat Ajax Under-19s 4-1, a game I attended in person. That was a spectacular result one which will have raised eyebrows right across the football world. Everyone and I mean everyone knows Ajax’s reputation for bringing through young talent.”

Indeed.

Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp, Frank Rijkaard and current manager Frank De Boer are among a host of Dutch legends who came through their youth system. More recent examples include Rafael van der Vaart, John Heitinga, Eljero Elia and Nigel de Jong.

Even more so than Celtic, the ethos at the Dutch giants is to develop players and then transfer them for a profit, a strategy that saw them sell Denmark internationalist Christian Eriksen to Tottenham for £11.5 million at the end of August.

Stark continues: “Because they focus on the development of kids to such extent, their teams are invariably very strong. The exciting thing from a Scottish perspective is that Celtic are now getting to the point where they are competitive at that level.

“As the Scotland Under-21 manager, I obviously follow youth football very carefully. And I think it was clear to see from the speed with which UEFA moved in to pick up the pieces after the collapse of the NextGen tournament that the future is Champions League youth football. That being the case, it is great that we have a Scottish team involved.

“The national manager, Gordon Strachan, spoke recently about the big pay-off the country have had from Celtic’s senior side playing regular games against top-class European opposition. He argued that you could see from the performances of Charlie Mulgrew, Scott Brown and James Forrest that they were becoming more and more assured and confident in their ability. Exactly the same applies to the kids.

“Celtic’s team has played against Barcelona, Milan and Ajax this season top, top European names and in each of those matches they have acquitted themselves well. People made a lot about Barcelona being a cut above in the game they lost 2-1 at Cappielow. For my money, though, Celtic ran them very close. The Barca winner came from a late free-kick, and for long chunks of the game, Celtic’s organisation and hard work had them frustrated.

“Over in Milan, it was a similar kind of story to that experienced by the senior team. Celtic’s kids lost 3-2. They came out of the game with no points but with their heads held high. And then, as I say, they had the win over Ajax. These games definitely benefit the players and help broaden their horizons, which is great for the national sides.

“Take Stuart Findlay as an example. He is just 18 years old but he shows a really good level of maturity. So much so, in fact, that we have already had him away with us in the Under-21s. A lot of that is down to the NextGen and UEFA Youth League fixtures.

“And Stuart is just one example. If you look at the older ones, we have had James Forrest with the senior side and Tony Watt with us at the 21s.”

The development of Watt, of course, has not been entirely smooth. The 19-year-old guaranteed his place in Celtic history when smashing home the winner against Barcelona in last season’s Champions League. He struggled after that, though, and admitted publicly the attention he drew as a result of his achievement messed with his head. Hoops boss Neil Lennon reacted to the situation by farming the player out on loan to Belgian club, Lierse.

“I think that was a sensible thing to do,” says Stark. “Tony has some fantastic qualities as a footballer. I would rate him the most natural striker I have worked with and there have been a few.

“He just needed to understand what an amazing opportunity he has got, and appreciate the work that goes into players establishing themselves at the top level.

“It is a bit of a cliche in the game that the best players are also often the hardest workers, but it’s true. Just look at the Manchester United squad. And is there a player anywhere with a better attitude and work ethic than Darren Fletcher? The hope is that Tony takes the lesson on board.”

James Forrest is out of contention for the U-21s now, but Stark is hopeful his former charge can have a big impact on Wednesday night.

“James is a special talent and he was a great young lad to have in the group,” he says. “Our only problem with him was that he was so precocious, we lost him to the senior side. He has since shown himself to be capable of handling both the demands of the international game, and those of the Champions League.

“I can actually see him having a big part to play in Amsterdam because he is one of the guys who can get in behind the Ajax defence and hit them on the counter-attack.”