Willie Mc Stay interview

Last week Celtic's under-18 team took poart in a four team tournament in Killybegs. We took the opportunity to have a chat with one of Rovers most succsessful managers - Willie Mc Stay

It's almost ten years since you have left Rovers and you have had quite a bit of success with the Celtic youth program, in terms of winning trophies. Can we expect to see Willie Mc Stay's version of the "Quality Street kids" emerging over the next couple of years?

Well obviously that's the point of the exercise of youth development at a club like Celtic is to try a produce players into a first team set-up that came through the system. We have been delighted recently when we look at the players of the calibre of Sean Maloney, Stephen Creaney, Jamie Smith, Colin Healy - an Irish lad, all featuring in the first team. So these are the boys that are a wee bit prominent at the moment and it takes time to have a good crop of young players at Celtic Football Club.

The quality street kids were put together by Sean Fallon how would you assess that Sligoman's influence on Celtic through the years?

Well Sean, as we all know is a Celtic legend. There was a lot of work that was put into the development of young players and obviously the Lisbon Lions were followed on by this Quality Street bunch of players, the Daglish, Hay's, Macari's and all that so they have been probably the most successfull era that Celtic had at producing young players and that's what we are trying to emulate just now.

Sean Maloney and Jamie Smith have already seen first team action, who are the other player we should watch out for in the next couple of years.

Well I mentioned a couple of them already, Stephen Crainey, he's had a lot of first team football and Colin Healy. Colin is one I feel sorry for, he's a player that has made great progress and he's being doing great for the Irish national side, it's only this time last year that he was nearly included in the World Cup squad. But his progress has being hindered because of the fact that Celtic's first team is a very strong in the midfield area and his appearances have being limited. But the group I've got just now I would reckon Craig Beatie and Ross Wallace, David Marshall will be the next group of players that you will see featured in the Celtic first team line up.

In terms of winning trophies it's been a disappointing season for Celtic, but the European run was some adventure. On the other hand Willie Mc Stay's youth team have been double winners in Scotland. Do the achievements of the youth team help make up for the domestic disappointments?

I think at first team level all the time that I've been supporting and working for them this has just been a remarkable year. The highs that we've had throughout the season and the tension that has been there is something that I've never experienced, the single thing that comes back to that is the Centenary Year. But it's fantastic and although yea you are right saying that we didn't win any silverware I think the club has gained so much in terms of recognition again, I think Celtic are now back in the European front. Not just domestic football in Scotland that they be a frontrunner but they're back now and everybody is just sitting back and taking notice that Celtic are back as one of the best European clubs and potentially I think we can go even further.

The youth team winning trophies has been great not only did the youths win the double but the players that have moved through the youth team and are now playing with the U21's won their Championship as well. So we have got a lot of talent at Celtic and that's the most important thing that the fans can see that's there's work being done underneath that's hopefully going to bolster what Martin O' Neill does at first team level.

Are you happy working with the kids or do you have ambitions to work your way up through the coaching system at Celtic, or elsewhere for that matter.

I think that I've had opportunities in the past. Since I took the job with the Celtic youth I've had inquires to go to other clubs as a coach or as manager in some cases. I'm very content to be working in the area that I am, I'm learning all the time and I get the chance to express myself as a coach without the ultimate pressure of having to win every game. So I'm learning all the time. I think the managerial side of the game is something that might appeal to me again in a few years time.

What I want to do is to see the players that I have signed and helped develop progress, I'd love to see it through. My own children have grown up now, John my oldest lad is about to sign professional forms with Motherwell and my youngest son is at Dundee United. So being in the position that I am at the moment is allowing me time to watch their development as well. I think if I were to go back into management, even with Sligo Rovers, you know it's twenty-four a day, everyday and you don't have time for your family. I'm enjoying my time at the moment, not only in the capacity as Celtic's Head Youth Coach but I'm enjoying my spell at bringing up my children as well.

Will we see Willie McStay as first team coach at Celtic at some point in the future?

You've got to keep dreaming but I'm sure that Martin has done fantastic and we are all hoping that he'll stay for a long, long time, but basically you can only be dreaming of a job like that! It's the ultimate, it would be a dream come true … but! … I'm content where I am and I think Martin will be there for a long time yet.

Looking back at your time with Rovers how do you assess your achievements with the benefit of hindsight.

Looking back I think, you know yourself we changed things around at Sligo from the team that I took over which most of them were Dublin based. Some great players were in that group and we changed it back to a local side in the sense that the players were based locally and that was great. But if they were not locals, they were players that I brought in and were based in the town. And I think that the fans saw not only their disappointment when the results were not going for, they could see the players were disappointed too and there became a bond between the players and the fans and when things started to go well there was a sort of a snowball effect.

Looking back at things, things happened so quickly for us that it was less than two years that we came from a relegation team to a treble winning side and that was remarkable progress. It was a special time because everything that was happening at the club at that time was fresh, everything was exciting, we didn't have time to look back we were always looking to the next game which was either a potential championship clincher, a Shield Final, a Cup tie. And every game was getting bigger and bigger so we never looked back, we were always looking to the next game.

After the treble was achieved we sat back and looked at the actual achievements of the club and the players of that time and it makes you wonder at times did we have any right to do it? Even the morning of the Cup Final when we picked up the papers and there were eighteen managers asked for their expert opinions as to who would win the game. Seventeen of them tipped Derry to win the cup and only one tipped Sligo and that was my mate Mick Conroy and he only did that because he had a soft spot for us. So what we achieved in such a short space of time was incredible but everybody played their part in it.

After the disappointment of relegation in '93 did you feel that Rovers could bounce straight back or did you think there was a lot of work to do to regain a place in the Premier Division?

Yea, I think we came in and we worked so hard. Unfortunately I think when I came in we were cut off at the bottom of the league and we got back to the situation where it was the last game of the season against Shamrock Rovers. we were so close as again if we could have won the game we would have stayed up. Looking back that was the turning point for the club because it gave us the chance to start afresh, build for a new season and things went from strength to strength.

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