Once there were the Quality Street kids.

The likes of Danny McGrain, Lou Macari, George Connelly and Kenny Dalglish seemed to move smoothly into the Celtic first team, on a well-oiled conveyor belt as the swinging Sixties became the demanding Seventies.

Now the Parkhead club is placing its hope in the Quantity Street kids. The club has 29 internationals in the 15 to 19-year-old age groups. The number is a testimony to both the coaching and recruitment at Celtic.

"There is a real increase in the standard at youth level," said chief executive Peter Lawwell. "The quality of the players is excellent and we are seeing the results of investing in Lennoxtown."

He is more than hopeful that the "green shoots" at Celtic's training academy will grow into top-class players.

Lawwell, who announced the club made a profit of £100,000 in the last year in "a tough economic environment", knows Celtic must produce more players to excel at the top level.

He said: "The season 2010/2011 was the most successful in years for the youth academy. We played for three domestic trophies with the under-19s winning the league before beating Rangers in the Scottish Youth Cup final. Our under-17s won the Glasgow Cup, again beating our greatest rivals in the final."

The accounts for the past year were helped by £13.2million made on the sale of players and those included Aiden McGeady, who left for Spartak Moscow in a £10m deal, and Stephen McManus who signed for Middlesbrough for £1.5m. Both players came through the ranks at Parkhead.