For much of Stephen Welsh’s Celtic career, the question was never really about whether he had the ability to play at the highest level. It was whether he would ever be given the opportunity to do it consistently.
Now, at 26, the former Celtic academy graduate appears to have found the answer somewhere he perhaps never expected.
Welsh spent 18 years at Celtic, arriving as a young boy with the dream of one day pulling on the famous green and white jersey in front of thousands at Parkhead. He eventually made that dream a reality when he made his first-team debut in 2020, but what followed was a career that never quite developed in the way either he or those around him would have hoped.
There were opportunities, but they were rarely sustained.
Celtic continued to recruit centre-backs, bringing in players such as Cameron Carter-Vickers, Carl Starfelt, Liam Scales and others, leaving Welsh competing for a place in a position where there was little room for sentiment. Despite being a product of the academy and a player who clearly wanted to establish himself at his boyhood club, regular football remained elusive.
By the time he eventually left Celtic, Welsh had made 70 appearances for the club.
For some players, that might have represented a successful spell at one of Scotland’s biggest clubs. For Welsh, there was always a feeling that it could have been so much more.
His departure, however, has proved to be less of an ending than a turning point.
A loan spell with Mechelen gave him the opportunity to experience football away from Scotland, but it was his move to Motherwell that would have the biggest influence on the direction his career would take.
At Fir Park, Welsh found a manager who believed in him.
Jens Berthel Askou did more than simply give the defender minutes on the pitch. He helped Welsh understand the game differently, demanding greater tactical awareness and attention to detail while giving him the confidence to express himself.
It was the sort of environment Welsh had been missing.
The defender has since described Askou as the biggest influence on his career by some distance, and it is easy to understand why when looking at what happened next.
The player who had spent years struggling to establish himself at Celtic suddenly looked like someone capable of building a career at a much higher level.
That development eventually earned Welsh a move to Swansea City, where another manager in Vitor Matos has placed his faith in him.
At Swansea, Welsh has found himself playing regularly in a side competing at the top end of the Championship, alongside former Motherwell team-mate Elijah Just, and the change in his circumstances has been impossible to ignore.
Then came the call from Scotland.
Welsh had not given up on the possibility of representing his country. In fact, he had always believed that if he could establish himself at Motherwell and continue progressing at Swansea, international recognition might eventually follow.
That opportunity arrived, and he has taken it.
His first three Scotland appearances have offered plenty of encouragement, with Welsh looking composed alongside fellow newcomer Luis Binks and showing the kind of confidence that comes from finally knowing that a manager believes in you.
Saturday’s victory over North Macedonia was particularly significant because it gave Welsh his first win in a Scotland shirt.
After the disappointment of the 3-0 defeat by Switzerland earlier in the international window, Scotland needed a response, and they delivered in Skopje with a 2-0 victory.
For Welsh, there was understandably relief at the final whistle, but there was also the sense that this was another step forward in a journey that has taken him a long way from the Celtic youngster who once dreamed of making it at Parkhead.
He now has the opportunity to help Scotland finish the international window on another positive note when Slovenia visit Hampden on Tuesday night.
Whatever happens, Welsh’s story has already taken an unexpected turn.
Leaving Celtic could have been seen as an admission that things had not worked out. Instead, it has given him the freedom to become the player he always believed he could be.
The irony is that the 18 years he spent at Celtic ultimately produced a player who needed to leave Celtic before he could truly show what he was capable of.
Motherwell gave him the platform, Askou gave him the belief, Swansea gave him another opportunity and Scotland has now given him the stage on which to prove it.
For a player who spent so long waiting for his chance, Stephen Welsh is finally getting the opportunity to write the next part of his career on his own terms.
