The Youth Interview By George The Leigh Way To Success

Jack Aitchison as combined the best of both worlds by learning from Celtic scoring legends of yesteryear and the present day

IT’S hard to believe that Jack Aitchison is still a teenager and will be until March next year, as Celtic had just clinched five-in-a-row when he made his debut. The young striker has now played under three Hoops managers since making his bow.

What a bow it was, though, barely on the pitch after replacing Tom Rogic and with the Celts 6-0 to the good, he rattled in number seven with his very first touch of the ball. In that split second he killed two birds with one shot – as well as being the youngest ever Celtic debutant, at the age of just 16 years and 71 days, he also became the club’s youngest ever scorer.

Since then, the teenage striker has made another three substitute appearances and has also been learning his trade while on loan with Dumbarton in League One, followed by a stint in the Championship with Alloa Athletic.

Closer to home, though, he has been put through his paces by Hoops hero, George McCluskey with the former Celt helping Aitchison move up through the ranks and, keeping his hand in on first-team matters, he is also picking up tips from a current Celtic striker.

Not only did Aitchison make the cut for the first-team’s pre-season tour of Austria and Switzerland, he roomed with none other than Leigh Griffiths for the trip and learned some invaluable lessons from the goal-getter.

So much so, that when Griffiths scored the opening goal in Celtic’s first pre-season tour game against SC Pinkafeld, Aitchison followed suit by scoring the fifth in the 6-0 romp.

He also put those lessons into practice last week when he scored the opener as the Celtic Colts overcame Queen’s Park in the Challenge Cup at Airdrie and, following the game, the Celtic View caught up with him.

DURING PRE-SEASON YOU PLAYED AND SCORED AGAINST SC PINKAFELD. HOW DID THAT FEEL?