Players released from Academy/B Team

No real surprises there.

I had high hopes for Lindsay a couple of years back, and Ciubotaru looked promising before his injury.

Wish them well.
 
WinkieWATP said:
Thought Weston would have had a real chance given the amount of goals he scored. Just a case of not being able to move up the levels?
Click to expand...
Davie Weir said:
What’s the story with Weston, just never kicked on?
Click to expand...
Could be that, could be that he wants first team football. I never expected him to have a chance, despite all the goals in the Lowland League.

His missus is also pregnant, so might want to be closer to home.
 
JDC1872 said:
Our loan set up and choices are strange though.

Choose teams that either dont play football, play on ploughed fields or dont have guaranteed minutes in the deals.
Click to expand...
Can only loan players to clubs that want them, and every situation is different as well.

We’ve had players loaned to SPL, who haven’t made an impact. Loaned players to league 1 and 2 down south, some decent spells but others not so much.

Also have to think about the players life after Rangers, where they’re unlikely to playing for a side as good as us. So the experience will benefit them in that regard.
 
this trend will only continue if the conference league gets passed. Trying to develop youth players for Rangers through playing lowland league teams will not work
 
JDC1872 said:
Our loan set up and choices are strange though.

Choose teams that either dont play football, play on ploughed fields or dont have guaranteed minutes in the deals.
Click to expand...

Tbf, McKinnon did get plenty game time initially at Thistle, but he dropped out of the starting 11 and they've now been on a terrific run of form.

Maybe a lower level Championship team may have worked better.

On a side note, Lewis Mayo was an absolute stand out at Thistle a couple of seasons ago and is off the back of another successful loan at Killie.

He probably won't make it at Ibrox, but looks like he'll carve out a decent career for himself.
 
wsb&warmy said:
Cole Mckinnon started off on fire at Thistle, but has struggled for starts since McCall left. He's still contracted to us for another couple of years, I think. Hopefully his next loan is more of a success. He's a good player.
Click to expand...

He's just not at the level of the first choice Thistle midfield, who've been in great form.
 
StaunchAndTrue said:
this trend will only continue if the conference league gets passed. Trying to develop youth players for Rangers through playing lowland league teams will not work
Click to expand...
Agree. A UK wide academy league or competition even, would benefit us greatly.
 
wsb&warmy said:
Cole Mckinnon started off on fire at Thistle, but has struggled for starts since McCall left. He's still contracted to us for another couple of years, I think. Hopefully his next loan is more of a success. He's a good player.
Click to expand...

Can't remember if it was McCall or Doolan who said it, but sure one of them said he had some sort of virus that knocked him for six halfway through the season. They've also only lost 1 in their last 17 or something now, so combination of bad luck and Thistle going on their best run of the season when he was available again that's seen him maybe not get the game time you'd hope.
 
WinkieWATP said:
Thought Weston would have had a real chance given the amount of goals he scored. Just a case of not being able to move up the levels?
Click to expand...

Thistle move didn't work out for him only played 125 league minutes for them then we recalled him and sent him to a struggling Cove. It was the next step for him after the Lowland League and its not worked for him.
 
Just shows you how difficult it is for lads this age to break through.

I think every one of those names (admittedly 2 I've never heard of) have had some sort of comments on here saying they were the next big thing or to look out for. So, so difficult to make the jump up.
 
Before folk use this as a stick to beat the Lowland League, a good few of these players never got the full benefit of it given it's only been around for a couple of years.
 
Always thought Lindsay had a chance at making it. Just shows you there are no guarantees with youth developing to first team.
 
SecondBestIsNothing said:
Before folk use this as a stick to beat the Lowland League, a good few of these players never got the full benefit of it given it's only been around for a couple of years.
Click to expand...
Tony Weston scored almost 40 goals in a single season in the Lowland League, but struggled for game time in the Championship. That's the only stick you need.

Nobody over the age of 18 at Rangers should be playing week in week out at that level, in my opinion. Over and above that they should be playing in the SPFL.

Probably every club in the Championship has teenagers featuring regularly in their first team, so why shouldn't the 19/20 year olds from our B team be doing the same?
 
wsb&warmy said:
Tony Weston scored almost 40 goals in a single season in the Lowland League, but struggled for game time in the Championship. That's the only stick you need.

Nobody over the age of 18 at Rangers should be playing week in week out at that level, in my opinion. Over and above that they should be playing in the SPFL.

Probably every club in the Championship has teenagers featuring regularly in their first team, so why shouldn't the 19/20 year olds from our B team be doing the same?
Click to expand...
I agree that 19/20 year olds really shouldn't be at that level but the B team is great exposure for 16-18 year olds to 1st team football before moving up, on-loan or moving on.

Weston has been a strange one because he's a good goalscorer but from what I watched, he lacked invention for a smaller striker when up against defenders. I remember watching him against QP last season & he didn't have much past a touch & go with his pace.

I also think the Thistle move was an awful loan move from the club. Brian Graham is a cracking striker for them & Weston is the polar opposite in his style, he was destined to flop there unfortunately.
 
I mentioned on another thread that a spoke with the Cove chairman recently about Tony Weston. He was full of praise for the kid and said he’s a model pro but he lacks the physical attributes to play in that league.
 
Always sad to see boys being released, but none of them are at the level we need them to be at now. Hopefully all will kick on and improve at a faster rate than they have recently and make good careers for themselves.

For anyone thinking of having a go at the purpose of the academy, history shows you two first team players a decade is almost a success at any team, not everyone can make it. That said I think David McCallum needs moved on and Malky Thompson returning to the academy is a backwards step.
 
Mount_Bear said:
Kelsey and Harley Ewen's parents - "We're so excited to be having girls! We've already got the names!"

Doctor - "You're having boys"

Parents - "...we've already got the names!"
Click to expand...
Harley was quite highly rated and may well have been captain at one of the younger age groups (someone bteer informed that me will be able to correct me if wrong). Struggled with injury the last couple of years which was caused, ironically enough, by a tackle from his twin brother!

My cousin coached them both a few years ago and they're pals of my daughter. Nice guys to be fair.
 
wsb&warmy said:
Tony Weston scored almost 40 goals in a single season in the Lowland League, but struggled for game time in the Championship. That's the only stick you need.

Nobody over the age of 18 at Rangers should be playing week in week out at that level, in my opinion. Over and above that they should be playing in the SPFL.

Probably every club in the Championship has teenagers featuring regularly in their first team, so why shouldn't the 19/20 year olds from our B team be doing the same?
Click to expand...

Disagree with that to be honest whilst Lowland Level isn't the best football wise off the pitch it's a massive learning curve for them. Big one is to look after their body correctly and also focus on recovery whilst playing the number of games they have been. 38 league games, 6 Youth CL games, 5 Glasgow Cup games and 2 or 3 rounds of the Challenge Cup that's also before you consider some that are eligible for the 18s as well playing Scottish cup and league at that level.

Not every 18 year old at Rangers will be at the same level either so they wouldn't be ready for moves to the Championship. Kennedy and Josh Mcpake recent examples of that when they went out on loan at that age to that level.
 
Honestly can't think of a single young player we've released in modern times, that's went on to better things and we've regretted the decision.

The hard fact is, you need to be very special to establish yourself as a Rangers 1st team player.

People like Barry Ferguson, Ian Durrant and probably most of all, Derek Johnstone, were incredible talents.

I'd say that Rice currently looks our only 16 -21 year old player I'd bet on maybe making it with us.
 
Loan spells rarely work for us, our best hope is they are good enough to directly go into the first team without one and for that to happen often we need top quality coaches in charge of the youth teams, B team especially.
 
JDC1872 said:
Our loan set up and choices are strange though.

Choose teams that either dont play football, play on ploughed fields or dont have guaranteed minutes in the deals.
Click to expand...
I agree you can predict the outcomes easily. All we seem to do with the bulk of them is loan out then release.

Not sure what the alternative is though in fairness to the club
 
Lovenkrands Dug said:
Loan spells rarely work for us, our best hope is they are good enough to directly go into the first team without one and for that to happen often we need top quality coaches in charge of the youth teams, B team especially.
Click to expand...

Some of the loans we do are down to players being too old for 18s football or the 1st season rules that were in place for the Lowland League for example.
 
WinkieWATP said:
Thought Weston would have had a real chance given the amount of goals he scored. Just a case of not being able to move up the levels?
Click to expand...

went to Partick on loan at the start of the season and hardly played, think he barely even played a full game in terms of minutes played, we recalled in January and he went to Cove.

Saw one of their games one Friday night and he played most of the match and was well off it at that level.
 
bkerr72 said:
Disagree with that to be honest whilst Lowland Level isn't the best football wise off the pitch it's a massive learning curve for them. Big one is to look after their body correctly and also focus on recovery whilst playing the number of games they have been. 38 league games, 6 Youth CL games, 5 Glasgow Cup games and 2 or 3 rounds of the Challenge Cup that's also before you consider some that are eligible for the 18s as well playing Scottish cup and league at that level.

Not every 18 year old at Rangers will be at the same level either so they wouldn't be ready for moves to the Championship. Kennedy and Josh Mcpake recent examples of that when they went out on loan at that age to that level.
Click to expand...
I agree with that part in bold, but I'm not saying every 19/20 year should get loans to the Championship. I'm saying they should be ready to step up to SPFL level, whether that's L2, L1 or the Championship is an individual specific pathway.

I'd also suggest that if we have 19 year olds on our books that aren't ready for League 2, then they're not ever going to be good enough for Rangers full stop - certainly not before they're released into the big bad world like these 9 guys anyway.
 
bkerr72 said:
Some of the loans we do are down to players being too old for 18s football or the 1st season rules that were in place for the Lowland League for example.
Click to expand...
I didn't really word it properly, I meant domestic loan spells. We need to be loaning them to teams that suit our style or play, which 99/100 means abroad, and teams in those countries tend to favour loaning from the bigger teams in those countries (2nd division Dutch teams loaning from Ajax, Feyenoord etc)

We are sort of stuck with the domestic loans but more often than not the player barely develops during them.
 
wsb&warmy said:
I agree with that part in bold, but I'm not saying every 19/20 year should get loans to the Championship. I'm saying they should be ready to step up to SPFL level, whether that's L2, L1 or the Championship is an individual specific pathway.

I'd also suggest that if we have 19 year olds on our books that aren't ready for League 2, then they're not ever going to be good enough for Rangers full stop - certainly not before they're released into the big bad world like these 9 guys anyway.
Click to expand...

I agree and I would say the club do that Ritchie-Hosler was at Dunfermline, Murray Miller and Jay Hogarth were at Alloa. I would guess there's not much of a difference in level between the League 2 sides and most of the Lowland League teams so think league 2 would be a waste of time personally.

Players develop in their own way some will kick on some will just reach a limit and never kick on and find their level when they leave. I think as well with a lot of the loans we do they're not for players who are going to make it with us and they are loaned out cause there no games program for them to feature in.
 
Lovenkrands Dug said:
I didn't really word it properly, I meant domestic loan spells. We need to be loaning them to teams that suit our style or play, which 99/100 means abroad, and teams in those countries tend to favour loaning from the bigger teams in those countries (2nd division Dutch teams loaning from Ajax, Feyenoord etc)

We are sort of stuck with the domestic loans but more often than not the player barely develops during them.
Click to expand...

Some of the loans we do though aren't focused on getting players to the first team. Guys like Kennedy, McPake, Miller, Mckinnon are loaned out cause they're too old to play for the B team and there's nothing for them to play in for Rangers.

Ross McAusland went abroad on trial with a Dutch 2nd division side and they didn't take it any further. If there's better youths at Ajax and Feyernoord then they will do that instead of loaning a player that's unlikely to make it with us.
 
Highway Star said:
Honestly can't think of a single young player we've released in modern times, that's went on to better things and we've regretted the decision.

The hard fact is, you need to be very special to establish yourself as a Rangers 1st team player.

People like Barry Ferguson, Ian Durrant and probably most of all, Derek Johnstone, were incredible talents.

I'd say that Rice currently looks our only 16 -21 year old player I'd bet on maybe making it with us.
Click to expand...

Completely agree.

The gnashing of teeth when we lose / release players is never quite backed up by their careers.

It does beg the question though, how do we secure players at an early age who are more likely to have a better career?

I guess scouting at that age is a very difficult thing to get right.
 
Highway Star said:
Honestly can't think of a single young player we've released in modern times, that's went on to better things and we've regretted the decision.

The hard fact is, you need to be very special to establish yourself as a Rangers 1st team player.

People like Barry Ferguson, Ian Durrant and probably most of all, Derek Johnstone, were incredible talents.

I'd say that Rice currently looks our only 16 -21 year old player I'd bet on maybe making it with us.
Click to expand...

Chances are if a youngster is that good, they'll be snatched from one of the EPL big boys before we even get a proper chance to look at them. Eg. Gilmour and Mebude.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Latest posts

Back
Top