CELTIC midfielder Jackson Irvine has innocently exposed glaring gaps in Australia's government-funded football pathway programs and Melbourne Victory's scouting.

Irvine, a Scottish under-19 international, completely slipped under the Australian radar after Frankston Pines - a Victorian club started by Scottish immigrants in the 1960s - discovered his talent.

The former Melbourne-based midfielder made his senior Celtic debut against Inter Milan at Parkhead last month.

"I was never picked for state teams, institute teams but it never stopped me," Irvine said.

"Melbourne Victory came for me but they didn't have enough contracts to give out.

"As soon as I came here, a club like Celtic, they couldn't care less where I came from and who I played for.

"They saw some potential and they took a chance on me really, coming from a complete amateur background."

Irvine has made such an impression that he captained Celtic's youth team last year and also played in the European Next Gen series, which saw him line up against giant clubs such as Barcelona, Manchester City and Marseille.

He could also be in line to make his competitive debut this year, with Celtic expected to blood more young players as the club moves towards comfortably retaining the Scottish Premier League title after traditional rivals Rangers were placed in liquidation.

He sat on the bench during Celtic's 2-2 draw with Hibs on the weekend.

"There's more under-19s that have made their debuts in the last 12 months than in the last few years at Celtic. They're the statistics," Irvine said.

"It's a great time to be here but it is very difficult to break in with the amount of first team players with experience they have with the prospects of UEFA Champions League."

Irvine also featured and scored goals for Scotland in a UEFA youth tournament last year before he was at the centre of a Scottish media storm when he suddenly ditched the dark blues and pledged his allegiance to the green and gold.

"Scotland came in for me early and offered me the chance to play in the under 19 European championships.

"But my heart was with Australia really and as soon as they came calling I've had the change the nationality and I can play for Australia."

His commitment to Australia was further enhanced after meeting his potential new national teammates before the Socceroos clash against Scotland in Edinburgh last month.

"I drove for an hour from Glasgow and I've met the players and Holger Osieck and the players that I've grown up watching," Irvine said.

"I've been keeping good contact with (Socceroos officials) Gary Moretti and Paul Okon.

"I was invited to the under 23 Olympic qualifiers but the dates got moved forward and that took a lot of the European based players out of the equation.

"It was a shame. I haven't been involved with any national team squads yet."

Irvine made his first team debut for Frankston Pines at 15.

"Playing for Frankston Pines was the best thing I ever did," he said.

Originally published as Victory blew chance at Celtic gun