I will put my hands up and say I’ve only been keeping a closer eye on our Academy kids for the last 18 months to 2 years. Virtually everything you’ve said on this thread is at odds with my understanding of how it’s working. We regularly play kids at least an age group up. We risk losing games by doing so but do it to aid development. We withdrew from the Reserve League last season to play a series of what were effectively friendly matches around Europe, again to aid development, and again dispelling the notion that we put more store in winning than developing the kids.
The simple fact is it is easier for a kid to breakthrough at Hearts, for example, due to the lack of cash for first team players and the lack of expectation of success. A couple of seasons ago Harry Cochrane was the bright young thing of Scottish football and looked an excellent prospect. They brought him into the first team, overplayed him, that led to injury and he’s barely featured in the last 18 months. Have they ‘broken’ a kid who looked destined for much bigger things by bringing him through too early and too often?