Our talented 'young' players

[ScotBear 144]

What is 'young' ? How do you define that for a footballer ?

The problem I have is that we seem always be sh!t scared to give young players an opportunity. In the Premiership, Arsene Wenger is giving teenagers an opportunity to play against some of the best players in the world week in week out. Some play regularly, others merely make irregular appearances. But the most talented are at least involved in some way, and from an early stage, and this is something you find happening across europe.

In Scotland, young players went through a stage of struggling to break through. The changing financial climate meant that the rest of the SPL turned to their youngsters. Basically their hands were forced. Ultimately though, this has been a positive move with clubs now producing young players that are proving to be better than the more experienced players that had been keeping them out of the side.

We are not yet at a stage where our hand is being forced to play young players. It's unfortunate that this is what seems to be necessary for young players to be given a chance at Rangers, but that's how it seems to be. We'd rather play a guy like Amdy Faye than play Furman or Emslie. We'd rather persevere with Lee McCulloch than try out Efram. We'd rather pay £1.8m for Filip Sebo than find out if Steven Lennon can perform in the first team. And with John Fleck about to turn 17, an age where the likes of Fabregas and Messi were playing regularly for top sides in top leagues.......will possibly the best player this country has produced for decades be given a decent chance in the SPL ? A few cameo appearances are probably more likely.

To go back to how do you define 'young'. Furman and Emslie are 20 now. Is that 'young' ? Not by todays standards in my opinion. They are certainly past the 'keep them in cotton wool' stage. If they have the talent, lets see them.

And Efram is 19, Shinnie coming up for 19.......these aren't kids. They are fully grown, mature professional footballers who are as ready as they'll ever be in terms of having the opportunity to maximise their potential. If we wait too long, that chance will be lost, and arguably the most talented batch of young players our club has produced for years will be wasted.

It may be seen as a risk to give a young player a chance, particularly at a club like Rangers. But is it really more risky than trying to win a league title relying on the mediocrity that currently makes up our first team squad ? It certainly wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if some of these 'young' guys are more than capable of matching the performances of our more experienced players, and even improving upon their level of performance.

I'm not saying lets flood the team with young players. I'm just saying lets get them involved. Start one or two of the best now and then. Play a few more in the cups. If we are winning by a comfortable margin, get them off the bench.

I'm tired of being told how good these young guys are, particularly from the management. If they are good enough, lets see them. And there's no time like the present.

[J_RFC87 761]

Easy answer: If you're good enough, you're old enough.

Not in Walter's book though, he's held back Barry Ferguson and Wayne Rooney in his time.

[disgruntled_bear 157]

Easy answer: If you're good enough, you're old enough.

Not in Walter's book though, he's held back Barry Ferguson and Wayne Rooney in his time.

Ferguson yes, Wayne Rooney no

He was only 16 when Moyes played him

[chris_glasgow 2]

aye if a remeber right bazza was going to leave for about £100,000

[Guest]

We should be sending our youngsters out on loan. Maybe try and get them abroad for a year, away from Scottish culture.

great idea, coz lets be honest. Our culture is booze booze booze, and in some cases eat loads of kebabs while boozing.... a change in lifestyle abroad could help a players fully.

[J_RFC87 761]

We should be sending our youngsters out on loan. Maybe try and get them abroad for a year, away from Scottish culture.

great idea, coz lets be honest. Our culture is booze booze booze, and in some cases eat loads of kebabs while boozing.... a change in lifestyle abroad could help a players fully.

But we do have the best facilities in the world, with some great coaches.

Sending them to...Belgium, do them any good though?

[Guest]

We should be sending our youngsters out on loan. Maybe try and get them abroad for a year, away from Scottish culture.

great idea, coz lets be honest. Our culture is booze booze booze, and in some cases eat loads of kebabs while boozing.... a change in lifestyle abroad could help a players fully.

But we do have the best facilities in the world, with some great coaches.

Sending them to...Belgium, do them any good though?

Mentally i think it would, being part of a First team structure with as much chance as the resrt of the squad of playing week in and week out for a season building up their confidence, rather than playing reserve football or be a constant feature on the bench. Where they know their chances are slim of even a sub appearance. There are great coaches all over the world with different philosophy's on football, which maybe helpful. And as far as facilities are concerned, I know ours are very hard to beat anywhere in the world. I think the above 2 reasons are more important

[nvager 498]

Great original post. I think the better young players can be blooded here as their competition is not great. DJ was in a cup final at 16 and scored the winner too.

Fleck was near to scoring in the SCF last season.

Walter needs to give them a chance. Not flood the team with them, but bring them on sensibly. One good game or result will give WS and them a lot of confidence.

[southdown 0]

Alex Ferguson did it with Man U when he brought in Beckam, Scholes, the Neville Brothers and was told by Alan Hanson on Sky TV that he would win nothing with kids. After losing the first league game of the season 3-0 to AstonVilla his team of youngsters went on to win the league.

I would like to see Walter bring in the youngsters this season. Unfortunately the days when we beating sides 3 and 4-0 at half time are just a memory so it is more difficult to bring them in when we are hanging on at 1-0 but we have to give them a chance earlier.

[Paintbox 0]

A club giving youngsters a proper chance requires a certain culture about the club. Fans of Ajax demand that their club places a focus on youth, for example.

At Rangers the culture is instant success. If we're not winning at home by half time then you can hear the disgruntled supporters inside Ibrox, sometimes resulting in pretty vocal displeasure. Is that the right climate in which to bring through youngsters whose confidence can be dented so easily? I would say it isn't.

The worst example I've seen was a few minutes into Chris Burke's debut when something didn't come off perfectly and a supporter near me flung a torrent of abuse at him. Charlie Adam gets the same. If he tries something and it doesn't work, rather than "Nice try, Charlie. Next time!" it's "YOU ****ING FAT ****. YER ****ING USELESS YA PRICK!". And it's not isolated.

We saw the change in Alan Hutton from scapegoat to a £9 million player in just a few months but lessons still weren't learned about giving some encouragement and support.

I don't think a talented 18 year old would be given more than a few games before he was generally expected to be performing like an experienced first team player by the fans. That, coupled with the lack of focus on youth, means it just won't happen unless we're forced to do it. Maybe if the support was organised and really wanted it, enough of a demand could be placed on progressing with young talent to make it "the Rangers way", and if you look back through history, focusing on youth was a constant for us right back to the teenagers that formed the club. It was the Rangers way and could easily be sold as living the dream but the demand isn't there.

[outlaw69uk 123]

A club giving youngsters a proper chance requires a certain culture about the club. Fans of Ajax demand that their club places a focus on youth, for example.

At Rangers the culture is instant success. If we're not winning at home by half time then you can hear the disgruntled supporters inside Ibrox, sometimes resulting in pretty vocal displeasure. Is that the right climate in which to bring through youngsters whose confidence can be dented so easily? I would say it isn't.

The worst example I've seen was a few minutes into Chris Burke's debut when something didn't come off perfectly and a supporter near me flung a torrent of abuse at him. Charlie Adam gets the same. If he tries something and it doesn't work, rather than "Nice try, Charlie. Next time!" it's "YOU ****ING FAT ****. YER ****ING USELESS YA PRICK!". And it's not isolated.

We saw the change in Alan Hutton from scapegoat to a £9 million player in just a few months but lessons still weren't learned about giving some encouragement and support.

I don't think a talented 18 year old would be given more than a few games before he was generally expected to be performing like an experienced first team player by the fans. That, coupled with the lack of focus on youth, means it just won't happen unless we're forced to do it. Maybe if the support was organised and really wanted it, enough of a demand could be placed on progressing with young talent to make it "the Rangers way", and if you look back through history, focusing on youth was a constant for us right back to the teenagers that formed the club. It was the Rangers way and could easily be sold as living the dream but the demand isn't there.

Hard to argue with that mate!

I have said before, we, as a club should be challenging in the league, and the latter stages of Europe each season. To help achieve this, and to bring the young players through, I seriously believe we should play a more or less youth side in the CIS cup, and also, perhaps, the early stages of the Scottish cup. Its double bubble, gives the young players meaningful first team experience, and, gives the senior players more rest, and, a better chance at going for the "big 2".

The bigger clubs do it down south, and, its reaping the benefits at the moment. We are a big club, we should do it. Surely we should have confidence in our youngsters to be good enough to beat bottom 6 and first division teams? If not, why are they at Rangers in the first place?

[Paintbox 0]

I have said before, we, as a club should be challenging in the league, and the latter stages of Europe each season. To help achieve this, and to bring the young players through, I seriously believe we should play a more or less youth side in the CIS cup, and also, perhaps, the early stages of the Scottish cup. Its double bubble, gives the young players meaningful first team experience, and, gives the senior players more rest, and, a better chance at going for the "big 2".

The bigger clubs do it down south, and, its reaping the benefits at the moment. We are a big club, we should do it. Surely we should have confidence in our youngsters to be good enough to beat bottom 6 and first division teams? If not, why are they at Rangers in the first place?

It's a good idea but unfortunately also comes with some problems. Playing a youth side in the League Cup works fine so long as we win. But if we lose, the attitude would quickly turn against the manager. Also, if we drew Celtic, would the supporters accept playing a young side against their first team and possibly getting cuffed? The plus side of course is that we could gub them with a team of youngsters.

The basic point though is that taking that route would work well until we hit a problem, then fans would be in uproar. If we want to change as a club and a support and genuinely embrace the idea of bringing through young players then it could maybe work but we're miles off that just now.

[biotechnology 2]

A club giving youngsters a proper chance requires a certain culture about the club. Fans of Ajax demand that their club places a focus on youth, for example.

At Rangers the culture is instant success. If we're not winning at home by half time then you can hear the disgruntled supporters inside Ibrox, sometimes resulting in pretty vocal displeasure. Is that the right climate in which to bring through youngsters whose confidence can be dented so easily? I would say it isn't.

The worst example I've seen was a few minutes into Chris Burke's debut when something didn't come off perfectly and a supporter near me flung a torrent of abuse at him. Charlie Adam gets the same. If he tries something and it doesn't work, rather than "Nice try, Charlie. Next time!" it's "YOU ****ING FAT ****. YER ****ING USELESS YA PRICK!". And it's not isolated.

We saw the change in Alan Hutton from scapegoat to a £9 million player in just a few months but lessons still weren't learned about giving some encouragement and support.

I don't think a talented 18 year old would be given more than a few games before he was generally expected to be performing like an experienced first team player by the fans. That, coupled with the lack of focus on youth, means it just won't happen unless we're forced to do it. Maybe if the support was organised and really wanted it, enough of a demand could be placed on progressing with young talent to make it "the Rangers way", and if you look back through history, focusing on youth was a constant for us right back to the teenagers that formed the club. It was the Rangers way and could easily be sold as living the dream but the demand isn't there.

Hard to argue with that mate!

I have said before, we, as a club should be challenging in the league, and the latter stages of Europe each season. To help achieve this, and to bring the young players through, I seriously believe we should play a more or less youth side in the CIS cup, and also, perhaps, the early stages of the Scottish cup. Its double bubble, gives the young players meaningful first team experience, and, gives the senior players more rest, and, a better chance at going for the "big 2".

The bigger clubs do it down south, and, its reaping the benefits at the moment. We are a big club, we should do it. Surely we should have confidence in our youngsters to be good enough to beat bottom 6 and first division teams? If not, why are they at Rangers in the first place?

Couldnt agree more

[Poetry_In_Blue 1,043]

Excellent thread SB and totally agree with you 100%, we'll never know if they're good enough or not if they're not given a chance, we have been panicking about the lack of quality signings and injuries and yet there is potentially the available players just wanting a chance.

They will also be hungry to prove that they are worthy of the chance.

I think big DJ's debut was actually against Celtic when he was only 16 and he scored the winning goal? Happily to be told that wasn't the case but I do know he was only 16 when he started playing for Rangers.

[CanadianGer 1]

We should be sending our youngsters out on loan. Maybe try and get them abroad for a year, away from Scottish culture.

great idea, coz lets be honest. Our culture is booze booze booze, and in some cases eat loads of kebabs while boozing.... a change in lifestyle abroad could help a players fully.

But we do have the best facilities in the world, with some great coaches.

Sending them to...Belgium, do them any good though?

Scotland has the best facilities in the world and great coaching?!

Time to get your passport out, Jadams. The difference will shock you.

[Davey_RFC 122]

We should be sending our youngsters out on loan. Maybe try and get them abroad for a year, away from Scottish culture.

great idea, coz lets be honest. Our culture is booze booze booze, and in some cases eat loads of kebabs while boozing.... a change in lifestyle abroad could help a players fully.

But we do have the best facilities in the world, with some great coaches.

Sending them to...Belgium, do them any good though?

Scotland has the best facilities in the world and great coaching?!

Time to get your passport out, Jadams. The difference will shock you.

I think he means Rangers CG .

We have a world class training facility, we don't have a youth academy, we don't have the best coaches in the world and we don't even have any scouts to get young talent in!

[Tommy WATP 86]

I think we should be getting the younger players more involved rather than spend big on 'potential'

But tbh even though i would really want it to happen i cant see us playing them more often this season with the expectation levels so high for us to win the league