HOW about this for a team made up of Celtic academy graduates from the last ten years or so?

In a straight-forward 4-4-2 I give you: David Marshall; Paul Caddis, Stephen McManus, Darren O’Dea, Kieran Tierney; James Forrest, Callum McGregor, Charlie Mulgrew, Aiden McGeady; Shaun Maloney, Craig Beattie.

It is hardly the Quality Street Gang - a grossly unfair comparison I know - but in this day and age, and certainly according to Ronny Deila, it's actually pretty good going.

A few names jump out. McGeady, who earned the club £12m when he moved to Spartak Moscow, and Maloney are the obvious ones. They won an awful lot between them, both named Player of the Year, and contributed to some famous wins at the club.

McManus is another huge positive. He was given a hard time of it because he wasn’t Paulo Maldini but ended as captain and led the club to three titles in a row.

Marshall, Scotland current No1, never won his place back from Artur Boruc but will always have that night in Barcelona. The hope is Tierney carries on from his remarkable debut season. Mulgrew had to leave for years before he returned to be a big player.

Of the rest, every single one went on if not to become a regular at Celtic then elsewhere, and all apart from McGregor won full caps.

Of those not mentioned and who in recent seasons have come through the ranks to make a contribution include, but are not limited to, Ross Wallace who has carved out a career for himself down south, and John Kennedy could have been a great were it not for a horrendous injury and many more continue to make a living out of senior full-time football.

Then there is Liam Miller who could have been anything and ended up a nothing.

At half-time during Sunday’s home match against Aberdeen, Tommy McIntyre’s undefeated Development Squad took a bow. They won their league with seven games remaining, won in total 28 games from 32, scoring 72 with only 15 conceded.

This is on the domestic scene. The same players over recent years have faced strong opposition from England and mainland Europe, more than holding their own. It is obvious that there are some half-decent young footballers at the club.

But Deila does not want anyone to get carried away. He would love to be able to say that this group are ready to follow Tierney into the first-team and show Celtic fans, and the Scottish football public at large, that this country can still produce the goods.

The Celtic manager, however, is a realist and his thoughts on how many have a chance of truly making it at the club are honest if more than a little depressing.

“There is a lot of talent there that is for sure,” said Deila. “But, and this is important, to be a Celtic player, to be good enough to play in the Champions League, is very, very hard.

“So if we can get two out of that squad to be a regular in the team and able to handle themselves at that level, then you have done an unbelievable job.

“I am sorry to tell you that nobody can say that ten players are coming through. That is never going to happen. It is one or two.

“This is life at a big football club. Only very few will make it to the top level in the first-team. It is so tough to break though here.”

One or two! Is that it? Aiden Nesbitt, the most highly rated of the lot, sent out on loan to Partick Thistle, was not there on Sunday and you have to imagine that right now he has the best chance.

So of all the players who walked around the pitch on Sunday afternoon, only one has a realistic path to the first-team.

“What I will say is that there will be a lot of players from Celtic who will join other clubs in Scotland in the Premiership and also the Championship,” said Deila.

“I have seen it myself when we play other teams all over the country. There are a lot, an awful lot, of their players who have come through at Celtic.

"So we are not catering only for Celtic but also the other clubs and Scottish football as a whole.”

This is quite correct. Almost every Premiership club has at least one former Celtic player and many of them are fine performers in the league. But while that’s good for them, helping out Kilmarnock, St Johnstone and Ross County is not exactly what the Celtic support wants to see.

I have seen myself how hard the coaches work at the club. The professionalism is unquestionable. But the system is not producing enough.

Is it simply that the players are not there? Even the best coaches are not going to make an Andres Iniesta out of a lad who is destined to play 300 games for Dundee.

However, questioning the Celtic youth policy is fair enough. They get first pick, or should do, of the best kids in Scotland and have missed out on a few. Some do eventually sign some years down the line, but it is a puzzle why so many are allowed to join other teams.

If the kids are not good enough then that is one thing. If Celtic have become a club wherein it’s next to impossible for a development player to get a proper opportunity then that needs to be addressed.