⚽ The Saturday Kick-Off #10 - Whatever Happened To...
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SCOTLAND - 2016 VICTORY SHIELD
The 2016 Victory Shield was the first year that didn’t feature England.
The Scottish FA hosted the under-16 tournament at the newly opened Oriam, and the squad featured a young Billy Gilmour, amongst others, including 14 Scottish FA Performance School pupils.
The Republic of Ireland won the tournament. Scotland finished second.
Taken from the Scottish FA website:
Scotland have finished second behind Republic of Ireland in the 2016 Victory Shield following a win, a draw and a loss in the tournament at Oriam in Edinburgh.
In Scotland’s opening match they took on Northern Ireland with Taylor Wilson opening the scoring after 18 minutes before Zac Butterworth tucked the ball away late on to secure a 2-0 win.
Billy Gilmour impressed and started Tuesday’s draw against Wales. The Scots, coached by Brian McLaughlin, started brightly and led 2-0 at the break thanks to a Jamie Semple brace but Wales hit back with two goals of their own to secure the draw.
During the match, 13-year-old Karamoko Demble made his first appearance for Scotland Under-16s coming off the bench.
Scotland went into the final match of the tournament against Republic of Ireland, knowing a win would allow them to top the group but they lost out 3-0 to end a promising week for the Scottish youngsters.
Whatever happened to that squad?
(Positions below are what the Scottish FA had them down as at the time)
THE SQUAD
ARCHIE MAIR (GOALKEEPER)
Club at the time: Aberdeen
Archie left Aberdeen for Norwich City in 2019. He was sent on loan to King’s Lynn Town, Lincoln City, Dartford, Notts County, Gateshead, Morecambe, and Motherwell.
He signed for Morecambe permanently this summer after being released by Norwich.
RYAN MULLEN (GOALKEEPER)
Club at the time: Celtic
Ryan was on the books at Celtic until his release in 2022. He signed for Clyde, then moved to Greenock Morton. St Mirren signed him this summer - he has played once so far for the Paisley club.
ANDREW KERR (DEFENDER)
Club at the time: Celtic
The young Celtic defender was released in 2018. He has played for Whitletts, Girvan, and Auchinleck Talbot in the West of Scotland Football League.