Up and coming players 2010/11

[Zappa 0]

While some fans are just about ready to jump off the Kingston bridge in their own little worlds of doom and gloom, it pleases me to see that even hardcore followers are still being pragmatic and optimistic about our future -

 

Up and coming players 2010/11

 

by Muff

Tuesday, 13 July 2010 17:49

 

Over the last few seasons we have seen a few of the younger lads getting a game; Danny Wilson, John Fleck and Andrew Little to name a few.

 

Danny Wilson has come in and shown that he is more than good enough, John Fleck has shown it on a few occasions, and with a run of games in his preferred position, could turn out to be a star player for us. Andrew Little has had games, hasn't really impressed, and I'm not too sure where he would fit in?

 

Currently we have a squad of 19 (20 if you add Jordan McMillan).

 

Allan McGregor, Neil Alexander

Kirk Broadfoot, Andy Webster, Madjid Bougherra, Steven Whittaker, Sasa Papac, David Weir, Danny Wilson

Steven Davis, Maurice Edu, Kevin Thomson

Lee McCulloch, John Fleck, Kyle Lafferty, Steven Naismith, Kenny Miller, Andrius Velicka, Andrew Little

 

Some of these players may well leave, some maybe brought in, we will have to wait and see.

 

A new season, a new beginning, a year on, some of the younger lads are going to be that bit older, more mature (not that age matters)... after watching a few of the younger lads impress on occasions, it's now time to put faith in them, and give them the opportunities they are crying out for. We have heard good things, some have watched them play (I've not seen the younger lads play for two seasons) about Gregg Wylde, Thomas Kind Bendiksen, Jamie Ness, Kane Hemmings, Kai Naismith, Steven Stirling... along with that list, there are other players; Jordan McMillan - who is 22 in a few months, but just signed a new deal, Ross Perry, Andrew Mitchell, Andrew Shinnie - who has impressed at Dens in the last few years, Kyle Hutton...

 

Some may not be good enough, some won't get the chance, but they have to be given it. I would rather see someone like Gregg Wylde getting his chance than going out and bringing in a Jerome Rothen. I would rather see Kane Hemmings given the opportunity than seeing if Andrius Velicka can recover from injury, and show that he's good enough. Velicka, IMO, isn't good enough, he's just back from a horrific injury, will take time to get his fitness back, is 31 and in the final year of his contract - I don't see him getting a new contract, so let's plan ahead, and give a guy like Hemmings a chance!

 

No-one knows what's happening with Danny Wilson, but if he is not going to sign a new deal, then we have to try and cash in on him now.

 

From having a squad of 19/20, it could easily jump up to 24-26, I don't expect them all to get a chance, that won't happen, but the ones that Walter Smith, Kenny McDowall, Tommy Smith... have mentioned in the last year or so should. That includes Ness, Wylde, Bendiksen, McMillan, on top of Little, Fleck and possibly Danny Wilson.

 

I'm not asking for 3 or 4 of them to start games, to play game after game, but I want to see them given a fair crack. It will be interesting to see what happens this season, we have a few younger lads with potential, now is the time for them to be given the opportunity to see what they can do. If we don't do it this season, then we never will - over to you Walter Smith.

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http://www.rangersmedia.co.uk/homepage/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=479%3Aup-and-coming-players-201011&catid=41%3Afinances

[H1ndy 0]

decent article. i would like wylde and ness to get more game time this season,

ive been hearing good things about Kane Hemmings but as im overseas know feck all about him. is he any good ?

 

does anyone go to the youth games? any of our youngsters capable of making the step up ?

[gisabeer 409]

decent article. i would like wylde and ness to get more game time this season,

ive been hearing good things about Kane Hemmings but as im overseas know feck all about him. is he any good ?

 

does anyone go to the youth games? any of our youngsters capable of making the step up ?

 

seen wylde come on last season for the last ten minutes against Aberdeen and he did very well only to dissapear into the abyss. Fleck too was starting to look the part only to be dropped like a stone.

 

Walter Smith given the statements hes been making about the lack of funds available over the last couple of seasons should have recognised the fact that he would at some point have to use the younger members of the squad and blooded them in.

 

hes had ample oppertunity to do so but chose not to. Fleck and little in particular could have been used far more often than they were but our manager failed to take the oppertunity.

 

I dont trust walter smith when it comes to bringing in players through the ranks. His record in that department is diplorable.

[Gazza_8 233]

seen wylde come on last season for the last ten minutes against Aberdeen and he did very well only to dissapear into the abyss. Fleck too was starting to look the part only to be dropped like a stone.

 

Walter Smith given the statements hes been making about the lack of funds available over the last couple of seasons should have recognised the fact that he would at some point have to use the younger members of the squad and blooded them in.

 

hes had ample oppertunity to do so but chose not to. Fleck and little in particular could have been used far more often than they were but our manager failed to take the oppertunity.

 

I dont trust walter smith when it comes to bringing in players through the ranks. His record in that department is diplorable.

 

I await Calscots reply eagerly........

 

But before he does reply I'll second guess it.

 

Hutton wasn't brought up through the ranks by Smith, Thomson and Whittaker were already 1st team regulars at Hibs, McGregor is the same as Smith, Fleck hasn't really done anything to write home about under WS so far and Wilson, well I'll give you that one Calscot.

 

No doubt there's some I've missed.

 

[craig 5,198]

seen wylde come on last season for the last ten minutes against Aberdeen and he did very well only to dissapear into the abyss. Fleck too was starting to look the part only to be dropped like a stone.

 

Walter Smith given the statements hes been making about the lack of funds available over the last couple of seasons should have recognised the fact that he would at some point have to use the younger members of the squad and blooded them in.

 

hes had ample oppertunity to do so but chose not to. Fleck and little in particular could have been used far more often than they were but our manager failed to take the oppertunity.

 

I dont trust walter smith when it comes to bringing in players through the ranks. His record in that department is diplorable.

 

I dont buy that "Fleck looked the part" statement. Fleck looked, at times, like he has talent. Most definitely. But looked the part ? Sure, so long as you are prepared to overlook his lack of positional sense, his poor choice of options and his not passing the ball when he should.

 

10 minutes in one game... that is all it should take these days to get much more playing time ? Wow, must be easy to break into the 1st team of the SPL CHAMPIONS if that is the case, huh ? Come on, 10 minutes and all of a sudden WS has "dropped him into the abyss" - that is a very poor argument.

[ascender 352]

I thought Fleck looked very poor at times to be honest, but its hard to judge him given he's not really played that much in his preferred position. Its also hard to compare him to someone like Danny Wilson, because he came in and played alongside Weir whose influence is there for all to see.

 

I think there's a big difference between giving younger lads the occasional run out from the bench or in the odd league cup game as opposed to having them playing regularly from the start of the season, either as backup (instead of moving other players around to cover for missing players) or in some sort of rotation system.

 

We still have a core of good players in the squad, so surely the only way we're going to see if these guys are good enough is to start playing them more. Certainly in the SPL I'd say we could play more of the younger guys and still be expected to beat most of the other teams assuming our players turn up on the day.

 

Of course, its not as simple as that and there's two big problems with the ideas I'm encouraging. One is that over the last couple of years, we've struggled to beat teams who on paper, we should be doing so with much more ease. Of course, on paper counts for nothing, but often we've huffed and puffed our ways to wins, or taken the lead only to struggle to capitalise on it. In that kind of situation, would too much pressure be put on the younger ones? Or is that the sort of opportunity where younger players energy and enthusiasm might actually pay dividends?

 

Linked to this is the pressure on players from fans. In recent times we've been too quick to get on the back of certain players instead of getting behind them. We all know there's more pressure to succeed here as 2nd place is considered failure, but if we are going to rely on youth more then we need to get behind them 100% as a support and perhaps take the longer term view that while the football on display might not be the best and we're not thumping teams 5-0, we're building for the future?

 

Having said that, we've not exactly been playing attractive football for a while now apart from a handful of games each season, so do we really have that much to lose?

[Gribz 743]

I thought Fleck looked very poor at times to be honest,

 

I thought Fleck look very promising but then got a ridiculous amount of hype placed on him then his next game was at parkhead and WS played him on the wing where he was lost. It could have set the guy back a season!

 

He is 18 or 19 now so age is no issue, this season is big for Fleck to make an impact but he needs to play in his strongest position.

Edited July 15, 2010 by Gribz

[Gazza_8 233]

He is 18 or 19 now so age is no issue, this season is big for Fleck to make an impact but he needs to play in his stringest position.

 

What exactly is Flecks "stringest" position?

[ascender 352]

I thought Fleck look very promising but then got a ridiculous amount of hype placed on him then his next game was at parkhead and WS played him on the wing where he was lost. It could have set the guy back a season!

 

He is 18 or 19 now so age is no issue, this season is big for Fleck to make an impact but he needs to play in his strongest position.

 

Sorry, didn't explain myself very well. I thought he looked poor at times, but also showed he had something, just not sure if that something is anything special yet. You're right though, they hype was ridiculous and he needs to play regularly in his strongest position. Trouble is, I can't see him being selected to play there unless he's given a chance to stake a proper claim for the place.

[calscot 0]

For my money, I think a young player playing a few related positions should improve his all round play rather than pigeon holing him too early.