CCV boost but it’s the end of the road at Celtic for Kasper Schmeichel

It’s certainly a boost for the player himself and definitely for the next manager of Celtic who will be appointed in the summer but for the remaining five matches of this season under Martin O’Neill, the brilliant news that Cameron Carter-Vickers is back on the grass simply hints of better times ahead for Celtic….

This season the spine of the Celtic team has been weakened throughout through injury misfortune and also poor decision making from the recruitment department and the senior executives in charge of these matters.

For most of the season all three managers persisted with Kasper Schmeichel who was clearly not 100% fit at any stage. In the centre of defence the rock CCV was missing since October after doing his Achilles in the closing stages of Europa League victory at Celtic Park.

The Celtic captain Callum McGregor has been restricted while playing with a managed injury problem, while the centre forward’s jersey has been left effectively empty with no first pick signing and a list of loan stop-gaps none of whom have been particularly impressive.

Yesterday we got confirmation of sorts on Kasper Schmeichel’s time at Celtic being over.

That come from Celtic TV as Gerry McCulloch sat down with the veteran Danish goalkeeper who explained that he might need up to three more operations on his shoulder and accepted that his time playing at Celtic is over.

Kasper also talked up the current Celtic No.1 Viljami Sinisalo who looks like emerging as a quality Celtic goalkeeper for the foreseeable future.

Then Martin O’Neill broke the news that the American international defender Cameron Carter-Vickers has progressed his recovery process to the extent that he is now back out on the grass at Lennoxtown with his teammates. That gives him three month to get himself ready for next season and that will be a massive boost for the new boss, his teammates and of course the entire Celtic support.

“Cameron was there, he trained today with us,” O’Neill revealed as he met the media yesterday afternoon ahead of the vital match at Easter Road against Hibs tomorrow. “He only did a little bit, so I think it’s the first time I’ve really seen him on the grass with the rest of the lads, which is great.

“You’ll know him better than me; he would want to play on Sunday if he could.

“That’s a distance away. He’ll not be happy with me saying this, but I have to be guided by the physios and the medical staff. It’s great to see him out there. He’s been bursting to go, really. But he’s a bit off.

“As Tim [Williamson, Celtic’s head of medical] said to me, he said you wouldn’t write anything off with him. But he was saying just don’t be getting too excited by it.

“Just seeing him out there, doing a little bit of running with somebody is a totally different issue to getting ready for the games.”

Callum Osmand’s recovery from a torn hamstring injury he suffered in Denmark, also in the Europa League, continues but it’s still too early for him to be included in the first team squad.

“It’s a wee bit early for him He played in the B team, he only played for a half on Tuesday, which was great.

“And he’s looking really good. He’s a similar injury [to Alistair Johnston] at the time. He had a little bit of a setback, so did Alistair when he was with Canada. But he’s making really good progress, doing fine.”

We might see Callum Osmand this season, Kasper Schmeichel’s time at Celtic is over and Cameron Carter-Vickers should be ready for the start of next season. Callum McGregor’s future should be determined shortly with the Celtic captain pointedly looking at the board to match his own ambitions for own ambitions for our football club.

Here’s Martin O’Neill’s media conference…