[Official] Rangers appoint Zurab Amirian as Head of Academy

[Bill 12,792]

35 minutes ago, JohnMc said:

Charlie Miller didn't come close to fulfilling his potential, he was genuinely one of the best players in the world when he was a schoolboy. Barry Ferguson did, but I doubt he would have if Advocaat hadn't taken over when he did and chose to build a side around him. 

 

Of the players you've mentioned above I suspect only Bailey Rice has a real chance of making it with us. The rest will get some games but I can't see them become first team regulars, I expect they'll move on when their contracts are up. Lowry still has a chance, but his inability to secure a starting berth in a poor Hearts side suggests to me he's still missing that something required to become a top professional. 

 

We hear the same platitudes about pathways and opportunities trotted out time and again, but I honestly wonder if we should bin our youth set up and simply focus on our first team. Indeed I'd go as far as to say all professional football clubs in this country should.  

I've long questioned the point of committing resources to a youth program that produces so little benefit to the trophy cabinet. Either the youth programme is flawed or the entire concept is pointless. At the moment we appear to be pursuing a youth set up purely out of little more than habit. as things stand, I'd prefer if the entire football operation was dedicated to the first team squad.

[Rousseau 8,655]

It's an interesting idea, doing away with the youth setup. 

 

Brentford did it, mainly because they couldn't justify the outlay. Instead, they focused entirely on their B-team; hoovering up young and overlooked talent through data analytics.

 

We do have a B-team, and seem to be increasing our use of data-driven scouting. 

 

I wish we could get our B-team in the professional leagues, too. 

[yuddie 697]

Considering we have (or should) a monopoly on young Scottish talent and that we're only really competing with one other team domestically - the fact that we don't produce first team players regularly is pretty embarrassing.

 

It'll never happen but we geniunely could replicate what Ajax do in the Netherlands and probably find it easier to do so with the lack of competition in our league and resources of the clubs outside the OF.

 

I agree with @JohnMc above, not that it should be scrapped, but it just boggles my mind that the club is dead set on being sustainable (as it should) yet we just don't give young players chances. Or sign young Scottish talent. Am I being a bit thick when I say that's it's a proverbial tap in?

 

And I don't mean start games with 4 or 5 teenagers btw, ideally we would have signed players like Josh Doig and Lewis Ferguson supplemented by players like McCausland and Rice. It's not even that radical?!

[Gonzo79 12,214]

I have no idea why some fans get so hung up on the young player thing.

 

We're not a normal club and we don't have games that aren't must win. 

 

We recently sold a couple of youth players for decent money (Gilmour and Patterson).  

[yuddie 697]

1 minute ago, Gonzo79 said:

I have no idea why some fans get so hung up on the young player thing.

 

We're not a normal club and we don't have games that aren't must win. 

 

We recently sold a couple of youth players for decent money (Gilmour and Patterson).  

We're also not normal in that we have 15x the budget and better facilities than 10/11 of the other teams in the league...is it tougher to blood a young player when you're fighting for survival or when you're dominant in all facets of the game in pretty much every gameday bar 4?

[Gonzo79 12,214]

Take it up with our successive managers.

 

I'd assume managers will generally pick their best team or go with players they know or think they can rely on, particularly when there's no margin for error.

[Sutton_blows_goats 3,354]

18 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

I have no idea why some fans get so hung up on the young player thing.

 

We're not a normal club and we don't have games that aren't must win. 

 

We recently sold a couple of youth players for decent money (Gilmour and Patterson).  

Rory Wilson is doing well for the Villa youth team.

 

Fabrizio Romano claims 'many clubs' now want teenage goal machine who quit Rangers last year (msn.com)

[BEARGER 1,804]

4 hours ago, Gonzo79 said:

You know Rangers FC has 792k followers, some of whom follow various employees and fan accounts too?  😀

Wow, no kidding! 
I know, I’m one of his followers. My mistake should have put an 😉in my post.

[compo 5,386]

One thing I did notice recently in Glasgow was the amount of unused football pitches in and around the city which suggests to me young lads are not as keen to be footballers these days maybe it’s a lifestyle thing they all seem to want to go to university/college but we all know if your a good player you’re made financially I just don’t understand the youngsters of today .

[alexscottislegend 1,764]

22 hours ago, SykseyBear said:

We aren't in a position to throw kids into the team right now unfortunately. We aren't strong enough. The toxicity around the club the last few years would ruin them. Look how it hindered King under Gio. Once we are strong enough, and able, to "carry" a few youth players i am absolutely sure the manager will throw them in. Right now wee Bailey Rice has about 7 highly paid experienced players ahead of him. McAusland has 2 or 3 ahead of him. King has 4 or 5. Devine has 2 including the club captain. Cole McKinnon has about 6 or 7 ahead of him. McCrorie has the best goalie we've had since probably Goram ahead of him.  It's a difficult place to make it for a young player. The demand for success and silverware far outweighs the demand or need to blood kids. 

 

What we need is a successful Rangers first and then we can start blooding kids properly. Look at what a top Rangers side done to Barry Ferguson and Charlie Miller. Both of them were sensational young players who played in 2 of our best teams in recent memory surrounded by some of the best players we've ever seen at the club. Neither of them would have made it here under a Beale, Pedro or Ally. Young players need help, and it has to be the correct environment under the right manager.  

 

 

Ok but it's funny how Man City (and L'pool etc.) manage to produce talent like Foden and Lewis into their team despite signing ready-made players for millions; don't tell me there's no pressure there for success.