Martin O’Neill confirmed that he spoke to the Celtic B players after their 2-0 defeat to Ross County, and stressed the importance of being seen at games involving the young Hoops.

O’Neill made the journey to Dingwall on Tuesday night for the Challenge Cup tie, with League Two leaders County heavy favourites having scored 88 goals in all competitions this season (now 90).

The Celtic manager was joined by first team coaches Mark Fotheringham and Stephen McManus.

The 74-year-old said it was “wildly important” for him to attend the B team’s match to show young players he has a genuine interest in their development.

There are many instances of youngsters showing promise but never actually being handed a senior opportunity. That comes down to several factors, such as an unclear pathway to the first team or financial muscle from down south.

But it’s up to the club to show that Celtic is the place to be so they can potentially follow the likes of Colby Donovan, Kieran Tierney or Callum McGregor into the senior setup.

“Young boys want to see the manager there. And I do go. I went to a lot of the B team games last year as well down at Barrowfield. I feel that that’s my job at the end of the day”, he said (The Celtic Way).

“And while I might not be around, seriously, to see the likes of Liam Kennedy or people like this to mature and become [first-team players], you would take at least half an ounce of satisfaction that you saw them and that you were at least saying something to them that might help them get out of it.

“The new manager coming in might just give totally different advice. I don’t know. But I think that my advice to young players, this is not boastful, I promise you, I think it’s the right way.”

O’Neill then revealed that he spoke to the young side after the match.

“I give you an instance which I said to the team the other night. They were beaten by a very, very strong and committed Ross County team.

“But it was important for me to see, first of all, the young Chelsea lads playing, then Joel [van den Berg] coming back from injury, seeing what he’s capable of doing.

“But my things will not change in this game. Whatever changes they make to the game, you have the defenders to be able to defend. You’ve got full-backs whose first job is to think about stopping crosses from coming in. And then when they want to come and join in and be something.

“You need your attacking midfield players on the half-turn, making something happen. Don’t be playing it back all day long. I could do that.

“You need your centre forwards to get hold of the ball – that’s something that Brian Clough preached. He didn’t care whether the centre forwards scored the goals, as long as they held the ball up and played people into the game.

“You also need wingers to take people on. Those things do not change. And it doesn’t matter about tactics. It doesn’t matter about jumping. It doesn’t matter about man for man. It doesn’t matter about all of these things. It’s what you do.

“I’ve seen it a thousand times, players with terrific ability when they’re 17, 18, being given the wrong information and not realising their potential because they didn’t have it.”

It’s instructions that young players should take on board to aid their development. Some will read O’Neill’s comments and wonder if those instructions have been conveyed to the first team, however.

The senior side have fallen at the hurdle on too many big occasions this season, leading to criticism over the coaching on a weekly basis.

O’Neill attending B team matches will encourage youngsters, but plenty of question marks still hang over the first team’s structure.

Zero points in the Europa League and Besiktas up next: this Celtic side needs to show something at this level, otherwise their European failure will stretch longer.