Where is Stephen Kelly

And rightly so given the performance the week before from Balogun in Belgium and Patterson having been suspended.

You are absolutely clutching at straws because you had forgotten Patterson was actually suspended by the club at the Antwerp game.

Ask George Edmundson and Jordan Jones how much of a second chance they feel Patterson got at half time in the home leg. Huge faith shown in him by Gerrard.

Lol. I repeat - the manager had no choice but to take Balogun off. He did not want to play Patterson. But you keep drinking the Kool Aid.
 
We’re not just going to play somebody because he doesn’t meet the definition of a youngster and we’re not just going to punt somebody that can help the team because he doesn’t meet the definition of youngster. We need a big squad due to covid so we’d have to pay somebody we don’t know to come in and fill that space. It seems sensible to use people we already have and know.

Yes, very sensible. Not that sensible for the player, mind you. But, yes, sensible to keep an inexperienced “youngster” as backup, just in case.
 
Any number of the midfield could have been dropped at any point and any number of substitutions could have been made. The key is to introduce the player to first team football and build up their experience. That’s the manager’s job. You don’t sit them in the stand and tell the media they’ve got a great future. You can’t just play lip service to youth development. You have to actually do it. Waiting for a fully developed Steven Davis to come out of the youths isn‘t going to happen. You need to work at it. Players do not improve watching other people train. It doesn’t happen. Kelly is nearly 22 and has barely kicked a ball for Rangers despite the manager praising him. It’s a nonsense.


So like Bassey or Patterson then?

Given we've struggled to put games to bed this year, I'm unsure when these appearances, weakening the team in order to give Kelly minutes, could have been made.

The fact is that Kelly has to be good enough. Every day in training and any time thereafter he is given a chance. He simply may not be.

I've got a cousin at 21 playing junior football. Should Gerrard give him games even though he isn't good enough for Rangers?

It's an extreme example and a bit tongue in cheek but if he isn't good enough and we've got better options then that's life.

I hope he makes it but you earn your chance at Rangers. It doesn't get handed to you.
 
He’ll get time. Now isn’t the right time though. He needs introducing to a team playing with confidence and a bit of swagger. We’re miles off that at the moment.
 
Lol. I repeat - the manager had no choice but to take Balogun off. He did not want to play Patterson. But you keep drinking the Kool Aid.

Keep dancing around things because you made an ar5e of it and forgot he was suspended mate. Gerrard, absolutely rightly given the circumstances, did not pick Patterson ahead of Balogun for that game.

Additionally, Patterson then came into the fold and played old firm games and all sorts so does this not prove youngsters get a chance if good enough? Or Glenn Middleton playing on Moscow? Or Bassey keeping the Croatian left back out the team the now?

Better you just go back and edit your post about the Antwerp game instead of trying to get wide because you made a mess of it.
 
Yes, very sensible. Not that sensible for the player, mind you. But, yes, sensible to keep an inexperienced “youngster” as backup, just in case.
That depends how you look at it. I don’t see an academy player being in and around the first team as a negative. It’s all experience that plenty other academy players don’t get.
 
He isn't as good as Kamara, Davis, Lundstram or Aribo. Nor Arfield

I agree that when the above are on form they are better options than Kelly but each and every one of them, with the exception of Lundstram, is going through the motions, not delivery decent performances. Since the announcement of his new vontracts Kamara has turned in 2 very poor games Aribo, despite his goal, just infuriates me more often than not. Davis needs a rest and Arfields looks so off it in his brief outings.
 
So like Bassey or Patterson then?

Given we've struggled to put games to bed this year, I'm unsure when these appearances, weakening the team in order to give Kelly minutes, could have been made.

The fact is that Kelly has to be good enough. Every day in training and any time thereafter he is given a chance. He simply may not be.

I've got a cousin at 21 playing junior football. Should Gerrard give him games even though he isn't good enough for Rangers?

It's an extreme example and a bit tongue in cheek but if he isn't good enough and we've got better options then that's life.

I hope he makes it but you earn your chance at Rangers. It doesn't get handed to you.

Kelly, unlike your cousin, is actually at Rangers and in the first team squad.

What is the point of that, from both ours and his point of view, if he never plays?

You seem comfortable with players being in the squad and never playing and seem indifferent to the damage this may do to the player’s career and our youth development programme. Each to their own.
 
Keep dancing around things because you made an ar5e of it and forgot he was suspended mate. Gerrard, absolutely rightly given the circumstances, did not pick Patterson ahead of Balogun for that game.

Additionally, Patterson then came into the fold and played old firm games and all sorts so does this not prove youngsters get a chance if good enough? Or Glenn Middleton playing on Moscow? Or Bassey keeping the Croatian left back out the team the now?

Better you just go back and edit your post about the Antwerp game instead of trying to get wide because you made a mess of it.

Read the earlier post. “Patterson came into the fold” - yes, because the manager had no choice. It wasn’t some brave ethical reconsideration or a comment on Patterson’s ability. The manager preferred Balogun until that position became untenable due to Balogun’s performance.
 
Kelly, unlike your cousin, is actually at Rangers and in the first team squad.

What is the point of that, from both ours and his point of view, if he never plays?

You seem comfortable with players being in the squad and never playing and seem indifferent to the damage this may do to the player’s career and our youth development programme. Each to their own.

I hope Kelly makes it. But Rangers is more important than him picking up minutes if he isn't good enough.

The youth players who make it at big clubs push others out the way and keep them out the way to paraphrase the gaffer himself. We've had players do that recently in Patterson (who has cemented his squad place) and Bassey who has pushed Barisic out so the chance is there.

But he has to be good enough. Bottom line.
 
Read the earlier post. “Patterson came into the fold” - yes, because the manager had no choice. It wasn’t some brave ethical reconsideration or a comment on Patterson’s ability. The manager preferred Balogun until that position became untenable due to Balogun’s performance.

And rightly so otherwise Patterson would have played in Belgium and again in the second leg but he was suspended!! Honestly. :)

Balogun never played right back for Rangers until he was forced to in Belgium due to Patterson being suspended. He rightly kept his place following an excellent performance. It didn't work the following week and Patterson then came in.

So it's Patterson fault for being suspended that Balogun played. Patterson then grabbed a huge chance at redemption.

Furthermore, the fact that Patterson was the back up right back in the sqaud is a pretty big endorsement from the gaffer on his ability. This wasn't some covid outbreak, Robbie McCrorie playing v Celtic type of inclusion.
 
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If they are not going to play him then he should have been sent out on loan imo , for the good of his career he needs to play

Being around the first team and not starting didn't do Patterson any harm. He's been told he's a first team squad player. He might be an understudy but week in week out he will be with the men and learning our system. He will need need to earn his place, and perhaps be lucky with injuries to starters ahead of him, but he is exactly where he needs to be if he is to take his chance when it comes.

Patience.
 
If Kelly is not going to play for whatever reason then Gerrard needs to be honest with him and cut him loose in for the good of his career.
Hanging around Ibrox for a season with no game time does nothing for the player.
 
Everyone I have spoken to at gers says he is good enough Gerard holding him back to play the players he has brought in even though they are not playing well ATM give kelly a chance he will take it but maybe that is the fear who then misses out
 
Must be much easier for a manager to say to an up and coming youngster that they are not in the squad today than to an established older player,
 
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