Hibernian manager Lee Johnson believes Celtic are not only leading the way in Scotland on the pitch, but off it too.
Johnson pointed to the Parkhead side’s clever use of ball-boys on a game-by-game basis.
“If you look at the Celtic ball boys, they’re fantastic,” The Hibees boss told the Scottish Daily Express.
“They train like the ball boys at Wimbledon! If they go 1-0 up with ten minutes to go, bang, two balls come onto the pitch at the same time and it’s ‘Oops, sorry’. Genius!
“But if they’re behind or drawing, the ball comes back quickly and shots come within five seconds.
“On Wednesday we had our dancers. They are all under-14s, but we had them all over the turf and it was fast, trying to create the rhythm of a derby. It was fire in the belly, things of ice in the head. They were great by the way.
“I used to be a ball boy for John Beck down south. I was a bit of a trailblazer, long balls, playing to the corners… carried light up signs so they didn’t even have to look up!
“We have also trained properly. I was taking my time and kept losing it, things like that, and the opposition goalkeeper was giving me leverage in the head.”
The Easter Road manager got off to a winning start last weekend against St Johnstone, a game in which he says better-trained ballplayers could have made a bigger difference.
“For 97 minutes against St Johnstone the ball was in play for just 41 minutes, how boring is that?” he said.
“So what do we do about it? We have to accelerate the ball, the referees have to manage the game so that the ball flows.
“If you book a goalie early to waste time, and I’d take that in my end too, by the way, I guarantee it will speed up his game. There is also the multi-ball system on the side. But what kind of ball is he using? Are they 10 or 17 year olds? Are they trained or not?”