Caldwell: Scott has learned to play with the Champions

Last updated : 20 January 2009 By Mikbhoy

"I played alongside him when he was a lot younger, but as I said earlier, the experience you get here, playing in big games week-in, week-out, makes you better," Caldwell said "With him coming here for the price the club paid for him, he had to cope with more expectation than I had and it's perhaps been a bit more difficult for him to find his form."

"But as Scott has got the experience and learned how to play for Celtic he has got better and I am sure he will get better in years to come. He is still very young, but has every attribute needed to be a real top player and he has proved that." Heid told the Celtic View "In the game against Dundee he dragged us back into it in a 20-minute period when we were struggling. He was everywhere and his performance got us back into it."

"As a footballer you should never stop learning," he added,"you should always want to get better, to keep working hard and he is at the perfect club to do that. He has a manager and group of coaches here who can help him and bring him on as a player and I am sure he will get even better as the years go by."

As well as coping with a move to the champions, and all that such a multi-million pound transfer deal encompasses, Scott has had to deal with a personal family tragedy and the youngster has handled it all remarkably well. In fact his team-mates were, for the most part, completely unaware that Scott's sister was terminally ill until very near the end of her young life. "A lot of us didn't even know what was going on in Scott's personal life last season," Caldwell said. "He came in, did his job and worked as hard he has ever done through a really difficult period. I can't even begin to imagine or understand what was going on in his head. But he came through it and showed his strength of character."

Read the full interview with Gary Caldwell in this week's Celtic View. On sale from Wednesday, January 21.