Tommy McIntyre's twin development aims

Tommy McIntyre believes that player development and winning honours go hand in hand at Celtic.

With his title of Head of Professional Academy the former Hibs and Aberdeen defender co-ordinates the Celtic's u-17 and u-19 sides coached by Miodrag Krivokapic and Stevie Frail.

Producing first team players is the target but success is also expected with the resourses that are committed into player development.

Tomorrow night at Hampden Celtic's u-19 side are looking to add the SFA Youth Cup to the SPL title that they won at the weekend with snap judgements likely to be made on a season's work.

Handling pressure and the demands of the big occassion are an essential element in player development with the game full of training ground wonderkids that couldn't translate their skills into a competitive environment.

With almost a full season in the job behind him McIntyre is a firm believer that a winning, successful team is essential if players are to realise their full potential.

"By developing young players you should also have successful teams," McIntyre argued. "Success breeds success, there is no one solution for everything, there's a blend to be achieved between having success and creating momentum in players development.

"Primarily we are here to develop young players but at any level there are lessons to be learned about winning trophies.

"We know that all of our players have talent- they wouldn't be at Celtic if they didn't but talent isn't enough.

"They need to have hunger and desire and we'll be looking to see that at Hampden on Wednesday."

On the back of The McLeish Report the Hampden clash between Celtic and Rangers will come in for additional attention and scrutiny.

McIntyre and his coaches are precise in their preparations for every match but know that ultimately it's up to players to perform on the pitch.

In the last two months Celtic and Rangers have traded wins at Barrafield and Murray Park to give their Hampden clash an extra edge.

Looking towards tomorrow's match McIntyre added: "We have prepared the players well and want them to enjoy the occasion of playing at Hampden in a cup final.

"We want them to display the talent that they have, to play their game and keep things simple.

"As young players we recognise that they will make mistakes but we hope that they can do themselves justice.

"Even senior players get nervous at cup finals but hopefully we can settle quickly and enjoy a great occasion.

"They've worked hard all season and it would be great for them to play to their potential and pick up a trophy for their efforts."