Celtic told they'd be better off at striker with rival who's netted 'incredible' goals this season

Celtic have been told their woes up front would be eased if they had one of their league rivals’ sharpshooters up front.

The Hoops have toiled in search of an out and out centre forward this term but they remain in the Premiership title race, and progressed to the Scottish Cup semi-final stage on Sunday with a penalty shootout win over Rangers. They face St Mirren for a place in the final against either Dunfermline Athletic or Falkirk, the latter of which downed Dundee United on Friday night in their last eight tie.

A key performer for John McGlynn’s team who are closing in top six football in their first season back at top flight level in over a decade has been Barney Stewart. He signed for the Bairns in 2024 from Heriot-Watt University and has kicked into top form following a loan back at Championship level with Dunfermline, scoring five times with two assists in 10 Premiership matches. With 15 strikes overall this season, he was discussed on Sportsound by Andy Halliday and Pat Bonner, ahead of Rangers vs Celtic. A Scotland call-up was touted amid praise for Falkirk’s impressive campaign.

Will Barney Stewart be called up by Scotland?

Ex-Rangers midfielder Halliday, who’s now with fellow Premiership side Motherwell, said: “Absolutely incredible, and I thought Falkirk were well-worthy winners, I thought they were excellent in the first half. Again, there's not enough you can say about the job that John McGlynn is doing at Falkirk. If it wasn't for Hearts and Derek McInnes being top of the league and what Jens Berthel Askou’s done at Motherwell, he’d be an absolute shoe-in for the manager of the season.

“What he's done this season, and he's just continuing to add strings to his bow. You know, the league campaign has been excellent, for me, they've all but secured their top-six status, and they'll be trying to push even further on and to get to a semi-final at a Scottish Cup, it just shows how well he's done at Falkirk. Dare I say as well, Barney Stewart, he's on the run of form that might start to catch the eye of the national team manager of these fixtures coming in March.”

Celtic hero Bonner was also keen to mention the forward and reckons his ex-side would be better off up front if they had him, opposed to some of their current options. The former goalkeeper said: “I was just going to say about Barney Stewart. This club that is out here, and we talked about Celtic not having a striker. If they had Barney Stewart in the team, they would be much more comfortable.

How good is Scottish Premiership standard?

“The goals that he scored, incredible headers, really, really good, young player coming from where he has come from to get in and produce that. Unbelievable. The way that they play the game, and you know, competition in this whole division now is there, It's there in the league, it's there in the cup games.

“Anybody can win the cup by the way, at this moment in time. Competition is great, as long as the level goes up rather than coming down. I think it has gone up. I look at Falkirk, I look at Dundee, I look at Motherwell, I look at Celtic and Rangers, I look at Hearts, and there's a competitive four or five teams.

“All really good. Hibs are up there in that top six, and then the cup runs that they're having now and Falkirk being an example of it, brilliant, absolutely brilliant. John McGlynn is doing a fabulous, fabulous job. It makes players better also. Players love that type of competition at a high level, and for me, the league is in a good position at this moment.”

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