Will Celtic’s Forgotten Aussie Get His Chance To Take The Step Up This Weekend?

I have read a lot of comments this week suggesting that since Maeda is out that we introduce Rocco Vata to the team. I think that’s unlikely. Rocco will leave this club soon barring a major change in thinking and we’re not going to give him the first team platform as a result. It’s ruthless, but we have to be ruthless at times and so I totally get it.

The more likely scenario is a promotion for Marco Tillio. We heard an awful lot about this kid as he was signing, but one thing always worried a lot of people; the level he was playing at before now. The Australian League is not highly rated, and even the best player in that league is by no means guaranteed to be successful in the top flight of Scotland.

We haven’t seen one second of this player. He’s been injured, sure, but he’s been back in training for a good while and he’s played in some Development games. Unfortunately, if he wants to win the argument being had by the fans about who is more deserving of the chance, he really needed to be outshining Rocco Vata in those games … and he hasn’t.

So, will we see him? I think so, in spite of that. Because we’ve spent good money on this guy and to not even give him one minute in the first team squad before the inevitable January loan would be a damning indictment on a signing policy there are enough questions about already. To be honest, if he can’t get into the squad now, he’s useless to us.

It’s time for certain people to step out of the shadows and prove their worth, and this kid is one of them. This is what the big squad is for, to accommodate moments such as this one, and this injury crisis has given this kid his chance. If he isn’t up to getting into the squad at least at this point then I want to know why in Hell we spent £1.5 million plus on him.

We’re a club playing in Scotland, and we always here about how we’re financially prudent. Pissing that kind of money against the wall would represent a big problem for whoever thought he was good enough, or it would in a meritocracy.

Whether Celtic remains one of those is an open question, but I don’t like what I see.