B Team vs Cove Rangers tonight

Most of the players in professional youth teams don’t usually step up and make the grade at first team level. Instead only the better ones do and they develop and improve when playing alongside experienced blokes who can encourage them and talk them through games. OK the result at Cove is disappointing but it would be wrong to believe that none of the young guys in the team tonight won’t, in time, become successful in our first team squad.
 
First half we looked very weak down both wings when Cove attacked us. At times we did look like a team of youngsters against a well drilled team who hit us with pace and strength up front. Second half we finally got on the ball more with Kelly Weston Lowrie McCann showing good skill and positivity. First half I thought the keeper done well even though we lost 4 goals. The team will learn from these games and hopefully those who learn from these competitive challenges will add strength to their progress as there is certainly players in that team with a good skill set who will make a career in the game,whether that's with us is down to how much they want it.
 
dh1963 said:
I told you I was being controversial.

All the smartarses saying I just know nothing about football because I think it's a total embarrassment for this young Rangers team...

What the feck does "levels" mean when we're playing a team 100 levels below where we need a Rangers player to be?

We didn't just lose to a bunch of experienced has beens and lower league dross. We got hammered.

Anyone trying to excuse that result has no idea what should be expected from a Rangers team at any level.

"They're only 18" is meant to be the excuse? Any good 18 year old with ambitions to play in a Rangers first team should be pissing all over the garbage we faced tonight. Any 18 year old with half a chance of a Rangers career shouldn't be getting humiliated by them.

I hope the B team manager gives those players hell tonight. Giving them excuses just makes it less and less likely they have the attitude or the ability to make it at Ibrox. They beat a team from the same division in the last round, albeit lower in the table. If they had given them a game but just fell short, then I'd maybe say different. But they got gubbed, conceded 4 in 45 minutes and were miles away from them. We look for excuses far too easily.
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Jesus Christ
 
surfbear said:
Chelsea under 21s this season in Papa Johns trophy against senior teams, Cheltenham, Bristol Rovers and Exeter have won 1 and drawn 2 out of their 3 games.
In groups of 4 they are second, Villa top a group but rest of EPL under 21s 3rd or bottom.
No panic for me about losing tonight against an ambitious team in form with seasoned professionals.
Key to me is getting the kids experience them loaning out for senior game time next season for next stage of development.
Other than CHO all the Chelsea academy players in squad just now have spent a number of seasons on loan as part of development
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One for DH and his ilk to mull over?
 
dh1963 said:
I told you I was being controversial.

All the smartarses saying I just know nothing about football because I think it's a total embarrassment for this young Rangers team...

What the feck does "levels" mean when we're playing a team 100 levels below where we need a Rangers player to be?

We didn't just lose to a bunch of experienced has beens and lower league dross. We got hammered.

Anyone trying to excuse that result has no idea what should be expected from a Rangers team at any level.

"They're only 18" is meant to be the excuse? Any good 18 year old with ambitions to play in a Rangers first team should be pissing all over the garbage we faced tonight. Any 18 year old with half a chance of a Rangers career shouldn't be getting humiliated by them.

I hope the B team manager gives those players hell tonight. Giving them excuses just makes it less and less likely they have the attitude or the ability to make it at Ibrox. They beat a team from the same division in the last round, albeit lower in the table. If they had given them a game but just fell short, then I'd maybe say different. But they got gubbed, conceded 4 in 45 minutes and were miles away from them. We look for excuses far too easily.
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2 mates (Kenny Kerr & the late Doug Skene) played for Cove when Juniors. Watched them in the HL home away for almost 10yrs, off & on. They've come a long way since then. But I rather agree, our B side losing 5-1, the last scored by 10 men, is sore. Only seen them twice at Dumbarton & they squeaked both games. Weston converted a good PK. Alegria looked nowhere near 1st team. Devine & Lowry were best. Like you, I'm disappointed tonight.
 
erskine bear said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1465813717363404813

Out of curiosity, was he highly rated with us or was he just another one of the guys that are in the academy, decent player but essentially a filler?

I was a bit too young to remember him, the first crop I remember was Fleck and Lennon etc.
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Hmm.

Good, but not a Barry type, clearly.

There was a level of hype then, as we had so few prospects. Literally any young Scottish player with a relative hope was celebrated. Greg Shields, Stephen Hughes, Scott Wilson, Boab - none were actually that good, but we could buy anyone worthwhile, so the academy was hardly worthwhile.

For many of them, we didn’t even have a training ground in fact.

Never close to getting there long term though.

@erskine bear - updated now so you get more context.
 
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Coatbridge Chancellor said:
Describing Cove as 'A glorified junior team' is the most hilarious thing I've read on here in many months :))

A total lack of understanding there.
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100% lot of money involved in Cove for a side at their level. Quick look round the advertisements at the ground and it’s a who’s who of the Aberdeen business community (Oil & Gas). They are paying a few of these guys decent money.
 
Crouchy said:
Hmm.

Good, but not a Barry type, clearly.

There was a level of hype then, as we had so few prospects. Literally any young Scottish player with a relative hope was celebrated. Greg Shields, Stephen Hughes, Scott Wilson, Boab - none were actually that good, but we could buy anyone worthwhile, so the academy was hardly worthwhile.

For many of them, we didn’t even have a training ground in fact.

Never close to getting there long term though.

@erskine bear - updated now so you get more context.
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Cheers Crouchy.

Coincidentally, Wilson, Boab and Hughes actually played a reasonable amount of games for us but were pretty underwhelming else where!
 
erskine bear said:
Cheers Crouchy.

Coincidentally, Wilson, Boab and Hughes actually played a reasonable amount of games for us but were pretty underwhelming else where!
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Timeline might be wrong, but it could have coincided with a requirement for 2 Scottish youths to be in the squad.

Wilson was used more than you’d expect.

Boab played a lot when we were skint in the Eck era.

Hughes looked like an ok player on the ball, but he was built like Bobby Sands.
 
Crouchy said:
Timeline might be wrong, but it could have coincided with a requirement for 2 Scottish youths to be in the squad.

Wilson was used more than you’d expect.

Boab played a lot when we were skint in the Eck era.

Hughes looked like an ok player on the ball, but he was built like Bobby Sands.
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Bob ‘best passer in the known universe‘ Malcolm.
 
tazzabear said:
I’m really surprised this is coming from you.
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I'm surprised folk aren't just saying that tonight is a terrible result.

Just don't get why so many are trying to justify it.

When the B team joined the Lowland League, many of us said they will learn nothing playing at that level and it will do nothing to develop future Rangers players. Tonight suggests to me that was spot on.

If players get totally outplayed by Cove Rangers at 18, how can we expect them to represent Rangers at 20 or 21?

I'm being deliberately antagonistic, but I want Rangers B to be judged as Rangers players and to understand from day 1 wearing our shirt the standards expected. Regardless of how good (or shit) Cove Rangers are, how can anyone attempt to defend us shipping 4 by half time and ending up losing 5-1 even after they ended with 10 men?
 
erskine bear said:
Watched an interview with Eck not long ago, where he did say Boab was one of the best passer of a ball he had seen :))
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That’s where it came from. McLeish was going on about Malcolm being one of the best passers of a ball in the world, probably to justify picking him despite him having the movement of a 25st arthritic pensioner.

Every thread on here it would be exaggerated further until it got to best passer in the known universe.
 
bluenosebazza said:
That’s where it came from. McLeish was going on about Malcolm being one of the best passers of a ball in the world, probably to justify picking him despite him having the movement of a 25st arthritic pensioner.

Every thread on here it would be exaggerated further until it got to best passer in the known universe.
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Did you prefer him in centre back or midfield, would he find Kent with the long diag's ? :))
 
dh1963 said:
I'm going to be a wee bit controversial.

I expect a Rangers under 19 team to be better than a glorified junior team, and for me that's what Cove Rangers are.

We can attract and develop some of the best youngsters in the country, they shouldn't be 4-1 down after 45 minutes against a bunch of older and stronger has beens.
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A glorified junior team that fields a guy with Scottish and FA Cup winners medals and a bunch of others who last season were playing in the Scottish Premiership. Being a bit hard on the kids I think, rather than up against has beens I think they were up against some fairly battle hardened pros tonight.
 
Men v Boys tonight in every sense of the word. Cove were much more physical and it was evident right from the off that we would struggle to deal with that. I am guessing many of the nay-sayers on here don't have a clue about football in the lower leagues and understand that Cove are a decent side with lofty ambitions, paying sizeable wages to some quality players.

I'm confused as to why some expected our B Team to rock up to Cove and steamroller them. It was always going to be a hugely difficult game. Many of that Cove team could play at a higher level, and have done.

Lowry tried to make things happen and you can tell Kelly is a player, credit to the amount of Rangers fans who turned up to watch, conditions weren't great but a good turnout nonetheless.
 
A good squad has a good blend of the young ambition and energy of youth players and the mature composure and experience of older players, obviously youth teams can’t have that.

That’s why guys like Dicker are signing for Brighton reserves, it’s invaluable to the youth players to even have a journeyman like that in their side guiding them.
 
Disappointing to see the young lads lost heavily last night but hey ho it’s all about development for them. These lads will have a mixed future in the game. Some will be good enough to make a career from it, some won’t. I have only watched clips of their games this season and read reports/opinions. By all accounts Alex Lowrie is one who impresses regularly and we should have high hopes for him. The result in isolation will not affect his chances of making our first team or any of the other boys for that matter. I wouldn’t be surprised if our Nathan was part of youth teams who had very disappointing results now and again.
We are effectively looking for diamonds in the rough with our youth teams. In Gilmour and Patterson we did just that so we are doing something right with our development structure and no need to over react to the defeat.
 
Disappointing result and the interview on YouTube alluded to the team trying to still play their own game after going goals down.

I don’t know anything about player personal development, there may be 2-3 individuals who are capable now of being up a level, or potentially capable when surrounded by a different calibre of player. Does it do those guys good being in the collective for a whole season in the lowland league?
 
T-Bear said:
Disappointing result and the interview on YouTube alluded to the team trying to still play their own game after going goals down.

I don’t know anything about player personal development, there may be 2-3 individuals who are capable now of being up a level, or potentially capable when surrounded by a different calibre of player. Does it do those guys good being in the collective for a whole season in the lowland league?
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I think it definitely does benefit them, so that when they progress onto their next step whether it be leaving the club or out on loan - they have experience of playing against men.

Ideally they get allowed into league 2, which was the plan.
 
My report on tonight's game

rfcyouths.wordpress.com

A Step Too Far For Colts

Cove Rangers 5 Rangers 1 A tie against League One leaders Cove Rangers was a big step up from the Lowland League fixtures, which has generally produced positive results, and it proved a step too fa…
rfcyouths.wordpress.com rfcyouths.wordpress.com
 
WilkinsBullet said:
A glorified junior team that fields a guy with Scottish and FA Cup winners medals and a bunch of others who last season were playing in the Scottish Premiership. Being a bit hard on the kids I think, rather than up against has beens I think they were up against some fairly battle hardened pros tonight.
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About as sensible a reply I’ve seen on this
 
IbroxForever said:
Dont waste your time mate, there is a group on here that jump on anybody questioning anything about the club. One poster in the main that think he knows more tban anybody about everything.

Tonight is a terrible result.
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Of course it’s a terrible result,but what they learn is more important for their development.
 
dh1963 said:
I'm going to be a wee bit controversial.

I expect a Rangers under 19 team to be better than a glorified junior team, and for me that's what Cove Rangers are.

We can attract and develop some of the best youngsters in the country, they shouldn't be 4-1 down after 45 minutes against a bunch of older and stronger has beens.
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Cove aren't a great team, but they're far better than a junior side.

Some folk do our lower leagues a massive disservice. Not nearly as bad as many Rangers fans think.
 
dh1963 said:
I'm surprised folk aren't just saying that tonight is a terrible result.

Just don't get why so many are trying to justify it.

When the B team joined the Lowland League, many of us said they will learn nothing playing at that level and it will do nothing to develop future Rangers players. Tonight suggests to me that was spot on.

If players get totally outplayed by Cove Rangers at 18, how can we expect them to represent Rangers at 20 or 21?

I'm being deliberately antagonistic, but I want Rangers B to be judged as Rangers players and to understand from day 1 wearing our shirt the standards expected. Regardless of how good (or shit) Cove Rangers are, how can anyone attempt to defend us shipping 4 by half time and ending up losing 5-1 even after they ended with 10 men?
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I’ll try line by line.
Justifying it isn’t what I’m trying to do.
Understanding it is different from justifying it.

I get what was said about joining the Lowland league but it’s still miles better than any other alternative on offer and Cove Rangers, like Ayr in the previous round, are of a fair bit better, higher, standard than anything in the Lowland.
I’ll tell you this though, these players will have learned more in those two games than they’ll have in any of the league games that they’re trouncing teams in.
Almost as important, so will the coaches.
The next games these kids play will be very important to them.
They need to show they’re learning from these nights.

Most players, including heroes of both of us like Johnstone and Parlane, learned exponentially between sixteen to eighteen to twenty and beyond.
It’s about them learning.
No necessarily turning them into Johnstone and Parlane.
Although both would be incredibly nice.

There is nothing wrong with setting high standards.
I’d only say this project isn’t about the team per se.
It’s about the players.
It’s about finding a player, just one player, hopefully more, who can be catapulted, even just progressed, to the first team squad.
They aren’t all going to make it.
 
tazzabear said:
I’ll try line by line.
Justifying it isn’t what I’m trying to do.
Understanding it is different from justifying it.

I get what was said about joining the Lowland league but it’s still miles better than any other alternative on offer and Cove Rangers, like Ayr in the previous round, are of a fair bit better, higher, standard than anything in the Lowland.
I’ll tell you this though, these players will have learned more in those two games than they’ll have in any of the league games that they’re trouncing teams in.
Almost as important, so will the coaches.
The next games these kids play will be very important to them.
They need to show they’re learning from these nights.

Most players, including heroes of both of us like Johnstone and Parlane, learned exponentially between sixteen to eighteen to twenty and beyond.
It’s about them learning.
No necessarily turning them into Johnstone and Parlane.
Although both would be incredibly nice.

There is nothing wrong with setting high standards.
I’d only say this project isn’t about the team per se.
It’s about the players.
It’s about finding a player, just one player, hopefully more, who can be catapulted, even just progressed, to the first team squad.
They aren’t all going to make it.
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I've long argued against B teams in the Lowland League because it simply isnt a high enough standard for the kids to really develop. I'd far rather see the better youngsters on loan. The difference between Cove and somebody like East Kilbride is huge. And even then I wouldn't see League 1 as being a great stepping stone, but it would be significantly better than the Lowland League.
 
A lot of people on here giving a massive disservice to Cove Rangers here, they are a great team with some real quality players.
From watching with my own eyes it was never a 5-1 game, the young team were by far the better side in the second half and played some brilliant football, without finding the end product. Cove were lethal in the final third in the first half although most of the goals were very cheaply shipped by our poor defending.
Some exciting talent in that young team, but you could see the difference in size & stature from the off.
 
We should be doing better than that, dont care what anybody says.

Also think this Lowland league thing is a waste of time, not sure what they are getting out of playing against teams of bums every week. Went from talk before about playing 'best of the best' etc to playing against junior teams.
 
BuffaloBill said:
A lot of people on here giving a massive disservice to Cove Rangers here, they are a great team with some real quality players.
From watching with my own eyes it was never a 5-1 game, the young team were by far the better side in the second half and played some brilliant football, without finding the end product. Cove were lethal in the final third in the first half although most of the goals were very cheaply shipped by our poor defending.
Some exciting talent in that young team, but you could see the difference in size & stature from the off.
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Cove Rangers a great team. I'll stop there.
 
dh1963 said:
I'm surprised folk aren't just saying that tonight is a terrible result.

Just don't get why so many are trying to justify it.

When the B team joined the Lowland League, many of us said they will learn nothing playing at that level and it will do nothing to develop future Rangers players. Tonight suggests to me that was spot on.

If players get totally outplayed by Cove Rangers at 18, how can we expect them to represent Rangers at 20 or 21?

I'm being deliberately antagonistic, but I want Rangers B to be judged as Rangers players and to understand from day 1 wearing our shirt the standards expected. Regardless of how good (or shit) Cove Rangers are, how can anyone attempt to defend us shipping 4 by half time and ending up losing 5-1 even after they ended with 10 men?
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I'm not making excuses for them and it is a bad result, no matter how you dress it up.

It is a 5-1 defeat after all.
However, our B team is effectively our 4th team.

We can make up 2 top drawer teams out of our 1st team squad.
We then have our better, more experienced younger players (Mayo, Maxwell, Williamson, Middleton, McPake, Kennedy, Kelly, McCrorie etc) all out on loan, or on the outside fringe of the 1st team squad.

There's been some ridiculous hype surrounding the B team , mainly from people who either don't watch them regularly, or totally ignore the low standard they regularly play against.

Some people have been wanting McCann in the 1st team squad and have said Leon King will be off, if he's not in the 1st team squad soon.

Neither of these things will be happening anytime soon, if ever.
Folk need to wake up and smell the coffee.

The B team is effectively a very early stage youth development side and nowhere near a "B team/2nd choice" Rangers side.

The title of the side is deceptive.
 
For a team such as Rangers and the ambitions that are part and parcel of the club, I pose the question:—

Is it more beneficial to continue to underwrite the costs of maintaining a 'B' team in the hope that 2 or 3 or so players will eventually make it through to the first XI, or would it simply be better 'cherrypicking' the top talent from the SPL and elsewhere—players who the management feel have what it takes to make it at the top level?
 
iaatpies said:
I've long argued against B teams in the Lowland League because it simply isnt a high enough standard for the kids to really develop. I'd far rather see the better youngsters on loan. The difference between Cove and somebody like East Kilbride is huge. And even then I wouldn't see League 1 as being a great stepping stone, but it would be significantly better than the Lowland League.
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I agree but it wasn’t, isn’t, an option.
I just think the Lowland is a much better option than playing senior teams’ equivalent teams.
 
I heard an interview with Craig mullholland about youth development and he said that they would arrange games against teams who were stronger and had better players than rangers underage teams had.this was to test them when things weren’t going well and can they still stand up in that environment.we have to get away from the idea that the b team is in the lowland league to win it.if they can brilliant but this is about the development of players.the next step will be loaned out to clubs in the senior leagues.
 
baystatebear said:
For a team such as Rangers and the ambitions that are part and parcel of the club, I pose the question:—

Is it more beneficial to continue to underwrite the costs of maintaining a 'B' team in the hope that 2 or 3 or so players will eventually make it through to the first XI, or would it simply be better 'cherrypicking' the top talent from the SPL and elsewhere—players who the management feel have what it takes to make it at the top level?
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What ?? Do we do away with the youth department altogether.if we get two or three players out of the present b team through to the first team level then that is a huge success.
 
Kenny Senior said:
We should be doing better than that, dont care what anybody says.

Also think this Lowland league thing is a waste of time, not sure what they are getting out of playing against teams of bums every week. Went from talk before about playing 'best of the best' etc to playing against junior teams.
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Essentially to acclimatise them to men’s football so they are better suited to deal with it in the next step of their development.

League 2 was the preferred option, that didn’t happen but I think it’s important to stress that the B team aren’t winning the lowland league either and have lost several games even at that level.

Obviously much rather be playing at a higher level, and the European programme we utilised was obviously beneficial but it still doesn’t prepare them for men’s football.

The “B team” is a pretty misleading name as well, seeing as these guys are the second tier of youngsters on our books. A point highlighted by the folk within the academy.

The better/older players go out on loan, this lowland league idea is to so they aren’t walking into a completely new environment when they do that.

The B team have been playing well in the champions league this season, but because they lost to Cove people seem to be losing their marbles.

It also seems to be the ones saying “get them in first team” after winning games in the YCL, or beating Alloa reserves.
 
baystatebear said:
For a team such as Rangers and the ambitions that are part and parcel of the club, I pose the question:—

Is it more beneficial to continue to underwrite the costs of maintaining a 'B' team in the hope that 2 or 3 or so players will eventually make it through to the first XI, or would it simply be better 'cherrypicking' the top talent from the SPL and elsewhere—players who the management feel have what it takes to make it at the top level?
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It’s better to have an academy.

We generally sign some of the better youth players to the academy anyway, see McPake, Allen and Graham for example.
 
dublinbluenose said:
What ?? Do we do away with the youth department altogether.if we get two or three players out of the present b team through to the first team level then that is a huge success.
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The only players in the first team squad who have been promoted from the youth system are Patterson and Kelly. Patterson, IMO, has what it takes to go all the way, as to Kelly, the jury is still out. That's not a particularly impressive record.
 
dh1963 said:
I'm surprised folk aren't just saying that tonight is a terrible result.

Just don't get why so many are trying to justify it.

When the B team joined the Lowland League, many of us said they will learn nothing playing at that level and it will do nothing to develop future Rangers players. Tonight suggests to me that was spot on.

If players get totally outplayed by Cove Rangers at 18, how can we expect them to represent Rangers at 20 or 21?

I'm being deliberately antagonistic, but I want Rangers B to be judged as Rangers players and to understand from day 1 wearing our shirt the standards expected. Regardless of how good (or shit) Cove Rangers are, how can anyone attempt to defend us shipping 4 by half time and ending up losing 5-1 even after they ended with 10 men?
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The top couple of lowland league sides are a decent enough standard. The rest of the league isn't very good. I still think loaning players out is better for developing them. The majority won't make it at Rangers, going to places on loan like Arbroath, East Fife, Stirling etc would be much better for them as individuals.
 
BuffaloBill said:
Thats just plain and simple snobbery. They are a well run club with plenty ambition and plenty money to match.
Dominant in the highland league, went straight up to league 2 and won it at a canter and are now currently leading league 1.
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That may well all be true but me and you must have a different view on what qualifies as a 'great' team.
 
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