Holland “Dutch” Wagenbach is one of the great characters in television history, a standout figure in The Shield. Dutch, a detective in the Farmington precinct of LA, known as “The Barn,” isn’t your typical tough guy. He’s geeky, intense, intellectual, and a little snobbish.
In a gritty cop drama full of hard-nosed, door-kicking characters like the Strike Team, Dutch seems out of place. But that’s part of what makes him compelling.
Dutch isn’t on the Strike Team. Instead, he partners with Claudette Wyms, a seasoned detective in her 50s, and their partnership becomes a central thread in a story about corrupt cops, the chaos they cause, and the spiral of destruction they unleash. Dutch’s standoffishness and intellectual nature make him the butt of jokes, but beneath that awkward exterior is a brilliant mind.
In season one, Dutch chases a serial killer no one else believes exists, and even when they do, they don’t believe he can catch him. But Dutch understands something critical: he’s every bit as brilliant as he makes himself out to be. He knows he’ll never win them over by trying to fit in, so his plan is simple—catch the killer and show them how smart he really is.
“The one thing they respect,” he tells Claudette, “is success.”
And that’s what makes Dutch such a great character—he grasps the dynamics of the situation. He knows the tough guys view him as a bit of a show pony, but he also knows that once he proves himself, he’ll be indispensable. Without giving too much away, he does exactly that. Dutch becomes integral to the running of The Barn and to the evolving narrative of the Strike Team and the precinct.
This concept of earning respect through success applies beyond TV dramas. In any field, whether you’re on the lowest rung of the ladder or somewhere higher, people will respond to success. Prove you’re up to the job, and you’ll earn their respect. We’re seeing this happen right now with one of our own players, Liam Scales.
Like Dutch in The Shield, Scales seems a little out of place at times, and there’s a kind of reverse snobbery at play. A lot of us have struggled to fully accept that maybe, just maybe, the guy we signed from Shamrock Rovers for a knock-down fee might be the answer we didn’t know we were looking for. Week by week, though, we’re watching a player growing into his role, proving that he’s a hell of a lot better than many of us initially thought, and perhaps better than some of us still think now.
I wrote a piece about Scales last season, just before his breakthrough performance at Ibrox. I compared his situation to the ancient trial by fire—a real historical practice where the accused would carry a red-hot iron bar, and if they could do it for a certain number of paces they were deemed innocent. I said that Ibrox would be Scales’ trial by fire, and if he passed, he’d never have to prove himself again. He did more than pass.
Scales came through that game with flying colours, playing a crucial role in our victory and solidifying his place in the first team for the rest of the campaign.
That was no small feat, considering we had signed two multi-million-pound defenders, Lagerbielke and Nawrocki, who couldn’t get into the side. We often blamed their failure on them not being up to scratch, but maybe we were blinded to the possibility that Scales was simply better.
Over the summer, most of us assumed we’d sign at least one new centre-back, possibly two, and that Scales would return to being a backup. The arrival of Austin Trusty for £6 million, a left-sided, left-footed player like Scales, seemed to confirm that.
But those assumptions look absurd now.
Yet success hasn’t earned Scales the respect it should have.
It’s as if Dutch caught his serial killer, got his day of applause and then immediately reverted to being the office joke again. That would never have happened in The Shield; Shawn Ryan kept his show grounded in reality, and in reality that respect would be all the currency he ever needed … but somehow, we’ve done managed to buck that with Scales.
Even after his success, we’ve sent him through trial by fire after trial by fire, testing him again and again. Despite passing every test, it feels like we’re waiting for something more before we accept him as a first-team regular, not just a stand-in for an expensive signing.
And I’m as guilty as anyone. I wrote the trial by fire piece, and I’ve been just as quick to put new obstacles in his way, waiting for him to clear them.
But what we’re witnessing is the continuous rise of Liam Scales, without any corresponding fall. If this were an economic graph, it would be hailed as a miracle. If it were a stock price, everyone would be buying in. And yet, it’s taken me a while to see it—maybe we have something special here.
Scales is still young, still learning his trade, and already very good at it. Playing alongside Cameron Carter-Vickers or whoever else partners him in defence will only make him better. Perhaps, just perhaps, we already have three top-class central defenders at the club, and our need for new signings wasn’t as urgent as we thought. Since the season started, he’s continued to be the first choice. He’s scored in big games. He has a goal in the Champions League. Last night he scored his first goal for his country. This is a guy improving all the time.
Maybe, just maybe, this is the guy. And maybe it’s time for people like me to put aside our doubts and get comfortable with that idea.
You’re right, he’s improving all the time and hopefully Brendan and the coaching staff can continue to help him with that. Will he earn more respect from the support?
If he continues to improve, the majority will fully get behind him but lets face it, some wrote him off a long time ago and he will have his work cut out to win any sort of respect from them ?
Don’t get me wrong always thought there was a player there somewhere his passing was a wee bit shaky at times but one thing he had got is his heading ability as good as any centre half I’ve seen not just in Scotland clean winning the ball
Well said James, I admire your honesty – he has improved a lot and will continue to do so – too many people were giving him stick, shows an immense strength of character on his part – he will go on to great things I suspect, just hope it’s with us
One of those rare articles where ye go, “Aye”. And that’s it.
Scales’s natural position is as a left back.
Perhaps that’s the solution to the Taylor problem.
Pair Cameron and Trusty and play Scales as LB with Taylor as understudy
for the remainder of the final year of his contract. It could be that that is the issue
with Taylor just now. He hasn’t been offered an extension to his contract or the terms aren’t
acceptable to him. What’s the situation with Valle? Is it a straightforward 1 year loan from Barcelona
or is their an option to buy?
Taylor has been great for Celtic but his problem is that as a nominal full back he can’t defend the back post. He is too small
and his positional sense is none to great. His strengths are as a half back / wing back. He creates assist and pops up with the occasional goal.
Valle is a loan with no option to buy, afaik
No option to buy as part of loan agreement, but he has a release clause of €3 million so was probably considered pointless looking to include one.
I watched his performance for Ireland mid-week and he was composed and assured. His touch was sound, and his passing out of defence on occasion breaking the press was excellent. There has always been a core group of fans who think he’ll let us down against better opponents, however time and again he has shown he’s able to raise his game when these challenges come along.
Known for a couple years he was a player and have said so many times on this blog. It worries me at times how many gobshites we have amongst our support, how many players they disrespect and whose careers they’d gladly cut short yet clearly see and know so little about football
I never could understand the criticism of Liam Scales from Celtic fans. Every player in the squad is prone the the odd mistake.I think Scales does enough good things to get a pass on the odd bad thing.He is up the field a lot out of position but gets back to cover 99% of the time.when he is in position it’s hard to get by him and he clears out everything that comes his way in the air in the box. He is always under pressure and could do without fans piling it on.We should support our best players not talk sh1t about them. One of our most consistent players.
A good honest squad player.His standard is the Spl .He will always struggle in Europe like he has shown previously. He has struggled to get a game in a poor Irish team with mediocre centre backs played before him.
Nonsense pure and simple nonsense.
He has 2 MOTM awards from 8 Champions League appearances in a team that’s been pumped 6-0 by Atletico and 7-1 by Dortmund; struggling players don’t tend to be named MOTM at any level of the game, let alone in the CL. And he’s hardly a ‘squad player’ when he’s played just about every minute of every game in 13-14 months, well done on proving the point of the article!
No. We need to get a much better player than him for the league and Europe. We need a far higher standard than him.
What part is it you’re not getting mate – we just paid £5.5 million for a USA international who spent last season in EPL and plays in his position but wasn’t able to remove him from the starting lineup?
A good story this one a young guy that supports the club making it…
With Engels and McCowan there Brendan is building well for the future hopefully !
Was he not signed as a central midfielder?
A lot of his games certainly points toward him being more offensively minded.
To sign anyone better than Scales would cost way above what Celtic would pay, Scales has developed into a 10 million or more C/B. Celtic line up with 4 at the back but we’ve usually got so much possession in the SPFL that it can quickly turn into 2 at the back. Our C/B’s quickly have to cover for our attacking W/B’s when the team lose possession and the opposition break quickly. CCV and LS and even Kaspar are very good in reacting to this situation which is proved by the defensive record in the League this season so far.
I just love to see an underrated player proving us all wrong, and Liam Scales has done this over and over again.