Young players before Rangers Academy was established

[JJ Ambrose 0]

Would really appreciate some help here...

Can anyone tell me what the system of training up young players (under 16s) was before the Rangers Academy opened in 2001?

Thanking you in advance!

[Frankie 8,186]

Don't know the exact ins out and outs but Rangers had a team in the youth league which formed around 10 years previous to that.

 

In the early 90s I played with Dundee Utd and we played Rangers a few times, once at the astro-turf across from the Main Stand, once on the actual pitch and another time at Jordanhill College. In those days the youth teams played and trained in various places - such as a local cricket ground, JH college and Strathclyde Country Park.

[pete 2,499]

I think elfideldo is the best person to answer about the youth system but I am not sure how old he is.

[Frankie 8,186]

I think elfideldo is the best person to answer about the youth system but I am not sure how old he is.

 

Auld enough...

[rbr 1,247]

Would really appreciate some help here...

Can anyone tell me what the system of training up young players (under 16s) was before the Rangers Academy opened in 2001?

Thanking you in advance!

Rangers primarily trained at lochinch and the west if Scotland cricket club , the first team used to turn up in a rickety old mini bus , train for about 45 mins to an hour then go , very rarely did any young players train with them , I used to go 3-4 times a week to watch the training and it was brutal , a bit of torro , a bit of 7 a side and then gone .

 

We had loads of good young players , very few came through , the best was a young Irish winger called John Morow , but he never really got a chance , others like Sandy Robertson were great potentially but ruined by the hard drinking and partying , again something I witnessed at first hand . We were in the dark ages back then .

[chilledbear 16]

Look back even further, players came through in the 60s and became world class.

[rbr 1,247]

Look back even further, players came through in the 60s and became world class.

 

Different world ,before money took over and fucked it all up

[pete 2,499]

Did we not train in the Albion for years? I also remember watching a training session at Ibrox which involved a lot of running round the track.

[chilledbear 16]

Different world ,before money took over and fucked it all up

 

Youngsters played against older players in Reserve teams. Some like Bobby Russell toughened up in the Juniors.

 

Nothing to stop a revision of Youth or Reserve team football.

[elfideldo 410]

Back in the 1980's John Greig took on Bobby Dinnie from Possil YM to run an official Rangers Boys Club. They played in the Scottish Amatuer Youth League with the likes of Celtic Boys Club, Eastercraigs, Fir Park Boys Club etc. At its peak I think there were three age groups, one particular group had a front three of Gary McSwegan, John Spencer and Eoin Jess (although Jess coming from Portsoy didn't come down every week).

 

It ended around 1988 by which time it was only under 16's, from that final year Rangers signed Neil Murray, Craig Flannigan and David Hagen.

 

Before the training facility opened there was a period where Rangers played on a Sunday at Lochburn Park, home of Maryhill Juniors. It alternated with 15's one week and 16's the next. Michael Stewart of Sportscene fame was a mainstay in midfield before choosing Man Utd over Rangers.

 

Immediately before moving to Murray Park Rangers used Glasgow Science Park for their Sunday youth fixtures, teams that included the likes of Stephen Hughes and Chris Burke