Celtic ask Barnsley for training facilities advice

Celtic are to ask Barnsley's advice on setting up training facilities which represent value for money. The club's chief executive, Ian McLeod, and the coach, Tommy Burns, are scheduled to be given a guided tour of Barnsley's Academy this morning.

Celtic, who play the second leg of their Uefa Cup first round tie away to FK Suduva next week after failing to qualify for the Champions' League, need to upgrade or replace their dilapidated Barrowfield training ground, which has scarcely been improved since the glory days of Jock Stein in the 1960s.

Meanwhile rivals Rangers have spent £14m on state-of-the-art facilities in the Glasgow suburb of Auchenhowie and have risen to top spot in the Scottish Premier League for the first time in two years.

Celtic's plc board have earmarked funds but are unlikely to be willing to match Rangers pound for pound. Despite the South Yorkshire club's lowly league status – the Tykes have slipped from the Premiership to the Second Division in four years – Barnsley's Academy facilities are the envy of many bigger clubs.

Barnsley's facilities cost around half of Rangers' Murray Park set-up. Before building them, they had to borrow facilities from local colleges or sports centres to produce players of the calibre of Mick McCarthy, who went on to join Celtic in the late 1980s.

Now 13 of the current firstteam squad have progressed through the Oakwell ranks but only Shaun Maloney and Stephen Crainey have done the same at Celtic.