ARGUABLY NO Irish footballer enjoyed a better 2024 than Liam Scales.
The Wicklow native made 34 appearances as Celtic won the Scottish Premiership title.
He was also key to their Scottish Cup triumph in May when Adam Idah scored a last-gasp winner against Rangers.
Scales was similarly integral to their Scottish League Cup final victory against the Ibrox outfit earlier this month, coming on at half-time and registering an assist in the 3-3 draw, which Celtic won 5-4 on penalties.
“Scales has been brilliant, I just felt he has the experience of playing in finals for us and he was able to clean the game up for us,” boss Brendan Rodgers said after Celtic’s latest momentous win.
In addition, last year, Rodgers hailed Scales’ unexpected rise, describing the Irishman as “probably one of the biggest surprises in my career as a coach”.
🗣️ 'He's probably one of the biggest surprises in my career as a coach'
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) October 7, 2023
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers praises Liam Scales after impressive performances ⤵️#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/fFqBBUMXRn
Of course, Scales also won two of the three aforementioned trophies with Celtic in the 2021-22 season.
But the player made just five top-flight appearances that campaign and was a peripheral squad member.
A successful loan spell at Aberdeen subsequently reinvigorated the player’s career. However, his days at Celtic still appeared to be numbered until the Bhoys’ defensive injury crisis gave him an opportunity at the beginning of the 2023-24 season and he has seldom looked back since.
Last May, Scales committed his future to the club, signing a four-year contract to complete a remarkable turnaround.
In that period, he enjoyed a rare feat for an Irish player — playing in the Champions League group stages.
And last September, when Scales and clubmate Idah scored in Celtic’s 5-1 win over Slovan Bratislava, they became the first Irishmen to score in that phase of the competition since Darron Gibson in 2011.
Like with Celtic, Scales’ ability has sometimes been underestimated at an international level.
He was an unused substitute for Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrímsson’s first two games in charge against England and Greece,
But Scales soon proved his worth and has started the last four consecutive matches for his country.
One of the key characteristics that has enabled the 26-year-old to go further than expected is his technical ability and composure on the ball.
With that in mind, it is no major surprise to learn that back in his days playing underage football with Arklow Town, he started primarily as a left winger.
“Very good feet, very good crosser of the ball, and surprisingly, for a young fellow his age, very good in the air at that time,” says Larry Mahony, who coached him for five years at Arklow.
“I know this might sound strange, but I still get a little pang of regret when I see him playing centre-back. In my head, he’s still that attacking player.”
Mahony is a former FAI Uefa ‘A’ Licence instructor with over 30 years of coaching experience and is currently head coach of the Development Academy at Shamrock Rovers.
So under his tutelage, players would have been encouraged to try different positions.
In addition to the left wing, he recalls instances of Scales playing left-back and central midfield but not centre-half.
And while better known for his defensive prowess, Scales has not lost his attacking qualities.
There have been many occasions during his senior career when he has been asked to play left full-back or wing-back and performed with aplomb.
Even when playing centre back in the Premier Division with UCD, you could see traces of his past as a winger, as the goal below against St Patrick’s Athletic illustrates (from 0:20 onwards).
“He’s always had the physical gifts,” adds Mahony. “I can remember as a U12 player, one specific incident where he was playing outside left, and he got his head up and played it to the outside right, to switch out.
“Now, at that age, that would be very unusual. He was able to see that far away from himself. So he had that extra vision and the dribbling skills, which everyone would have seen close up.”
Scales was part of a talented Arklow side that began winning games so easily that they eventually played a year above themselves at U13 level.
Yet the Celtic star is the only individual in that team still playing professionally — Mikey Quigley spent time at Carlisle United, while fellow Arklow graduates Ross Hanley and Thomas Rowan had short stints in the League of Ireland.
“Liam probably would have been the outstanding player. But two or three were nearly on a par with him,” adds Mahony.
“I remember his dad asking me around 12: ‘Do you think he has a chance of being a professional player?’ And I said: ‘I do, not so much because of physical ability — we tend to get carried away with physical ability, and physical ability in kids is no guarantee of success.
“But he also had a game intelligence that the other kids his age didn’t have. He was able to read the game better, and he was able to see things further away from himself that other kids weren’t.”
Scales is also a rare case of an Ireland international, with an undergraduate degree.
He studied Irish and Geography at University College Dublin and is fluent in his native tongue.
Pat Devlin, who helped guide Scales at UCD, remembers a meeting where the promising footballer was offered a scholarship.
“I always remember his father saying: ‘He always wanted to play in the UK. Would this [scholarship] mean he may never get that chance?’
“I looked straight at him and said: ‘Absolutely not.’
“I said he could be in a better place than most by having a degree in his back pocket and getting the opportunity to play in the UK.”
That UCD team had several talented players — Scales’ time there coincided with Gary O’Neill, Neil Farrugia and Dylan Watts, all of whom have since gone on to star for Shamrock Rovers as he once did.
“On and off the pitch he was good,” says Devlin. “A very talented left foot.
“It’s amazing how some people think he hadn’t got pace, but he looked like he had a lot of pace then. Maybe he’s playing against players who are faster than him now.
“He always looked a well-balanced, intelligent player — never gave the ball away. And his attitude — he was never going to lose a ball. He was never going to miss a tackle. He was always that way.”
And for all his talent, Scales’ mentality to continually silence the doubters is perhaps his strongest asset.
Mahony cites his “good family” background and academic qualifications as significant.
Despite being one of the quieter players on the team, Scales always had “self-confidence without being boastful or obnoxious”.
And as early as 2019, Scales’ displays were being noticed across the water.
He even turned down an offer from Man City to join their U23 side as he preferred to play first-team football, while a move to Bristol Rovers also fell through before he eventually signed with Shamrock Rovers.
“The Bristol Rovers thing, he was very unlucky with that one, that just went a little bit astray,” says Devlin. “But left-footed players with that type of ability, they’re like hen’s teeth. So people like them. They look at them, they’re rare and they want them.”
“I used to joke with the kids — left foot, that’s worth an extra 10 grand to us,” adds Mahony. “It’s worth a lot more than 10 grand now.”
While Scales has become a key figure at Celtic, his former Arklow coach believes he can play at an even higher level and potentially thrive in the English top flight, citing how he has not looked out of place for Ireland playing alongside Premier League regulars Nathan Collins and Dara O’Shea.
“Knowing him and I’ve said this to him — I honestly think there is more [to come], with a bit more devil in him, and a bit more fighting and determination.
“You can’t compare them in terms of career, and I’m not trying to do that, but the mental quality reminds me of Roy Keane, and I’ll tell you why. Not the aggression, not the fierce desire to win, but just the ability to step in and play.”
Mahony knows these two players better than most — he was the instructor on the Fás course that a young Keane was part of before moving to England.
“When people ask me about Roy Keane, I always say, what he had over other people was no nerves. He went from Rockmount straight into Cobh’s team, and it didn’t faze him. He went from Cobh to Nottingham Forest, and it didn’t faze him. He went from Nottingham Forest to Manchester United, and it didn’t faze him.
“To me, that is a quality that Liam has. I honestly think if he got the chance, he would step up to a higher level. I would think looking at it, there are so many variables in it, that you can’t say for definite. But I think certainly he could play in the Championship. If given the chance, I think he would step up [to the Premier League].”
Devlin expresses a similar viewpoint: “What I liked about Liam was that when he was given the challenge, he always got there, whatever the challenge may be, and if he had a bad game or got turned, nothing fazed him. And I think he’s proved that, particularly over the last couple of years.
“He went to Rovers and wasn’t first choice, and then he became first choice, played in Europe, and then got the chance to go to Celtic. He had to bide his time, and he got his opportunity and took it with both hands. And now he’s a full international and whatever mishaps happen on the way, it’s part of football, part of life, and he deals with it.”
Meanwhile, Mahony has been especially impressed with how Scales has adapted to international football.
“When [Ireland] were struggling badly and weren’t playing well, Liam was playing more quality passes into our front players than our midfield players were.
“I would compare him to Roy Keane in that regard as well. Because Roy Keane could simplify his game to such an extent he was getting it and feeding the forward players.
“And I think Liam has done the same thing. He’s been able to cut out all the distractions and his passing stats are really good.
“But it’s not only that he’s keeping it. Because playing centre-back nowadays, with all the teams dropping off, it’s not difficult for a centre-back to have good passing stats. But I think Liam plays an awful lot more forward passes than most of the centre-backs.
“They are the type of players that managers love. They play a simple game, but play it effectively — play for the team rather than for themselves.”
“It’s a great football story,” concludes Devlin. “He had to fight his way into the team, gets into the team. Now he’s out of it [at Celtic]. He’ll be back in. He’s made of such great stuff.”
Larry Mahony has published two coaching books for grassroots coaches — Let The Players Play and Move The Ball. More info here.
Great read, would be great to see these deep-dive articles about some of the other Irish lads playing abroad…. Btw he’s the head off Caoimhin, I thought the article was going to be about him
Great to see Liam evolve over the years.
Unfortunately not the talent with his feet, but a decent player in the current set up.
This guy plays in a league that is equivalent to the 1st division. He is ok but making comparisons with Keanes mentality is ridiculous. He is not even a starter with Celtic all the time. The journalist needs to curate his headline better and be more realistic in the contextualisation.