The media is doing its level best, since Sunday, to advertise Scott Bain’s “options.”
Nobody knows better than Scott Bain what those options are.
One of them is Celtic, and whether the media likes it or not, whether Neil Lennon likes it or not, whether Neil McCann or anyone else likes it or not, that’s all she wrote. Scott Bain can be a Celtic player, and so he will be.
There is no way in this world that Bain will turn down a contract offer from Parkhead if he gets one, and all the talk is that he will. Brendan would have selected De Vries if he had been fit for the game at the weekend but we’d have seen Bain sooner or later and I am sure he’d have impressed us. He has been on Celtic’s radar for a while.
Would he have come to Celtic had Douglas not gotten injured? Not in the last window, no, but I do believe he’d have had an offer from us in the summer.
I think we might have seen the last of De Vries. If I’m correct he should be allowed to go with all of our best wishes and good thoughts. He hasn’t been good enough, but nobody could have predicted that when he signed because he is a hugely experienced player who was a star at his previous club. Nobody could have foreseen this ending, especially not Brendan who knew the guy well and once thought of him as a competitor with Craig Gordon himself.
Bain might not be a guaranteed first pick, but he knows that he’ll learn more at Celtic Park than he will anywhere else and that moments and opportunities will come for him here. Besides, anybody who signs for Celtic has to know the competition will be fierce and that means he has to believe. Believe in his own ability and that he can be more than a bit-part player.
And this kid does believe it. He has confidence in himself, and that’s the biggest thing. The talent is either there or it’s not, but if he doesn’t believe in it then it might as well not exist. We’ll find out how good he can be over the course, starting this weekend.
Brendan likes him, as he’s pointed out today. He calls him “outstanding” and has even hinted he could be the club’s first pick.
That’s more than just half the battle, that’s the whole war. And if he likes him enough to offer him a deal – which all told is exactly what will happen – then Bain’s choice really isn’t a choice at all. Yes, me might play more games elsewhere … but then again he might not. There’s no indication that Hibs, for example, view him as a guaranteed starter either. And the other clubs who are allegedly interested? Good God, why would he turn us down for a shot at one of them?
Bain will get the greatest education of his footballing life at Celtic Park, and Gordon, who has a history of injury problems, will not be around forever … and you’d want to be in pole position to take the slot if and when the moment came. He can’t do that at Easter Road or at Bristol or any of the other clubs he’s linked to in today’s stories.
Scott Bain has landed the opportunity of a lifetime here.
For a kid with his confidence, and his belief, that is too good a chance to turn down. And he won’t.
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