All Academic

All in all, over recent weeks there has been a youthful feel in the world of Rangers. I, like a great many others, took my daughter to Ibrox for her first men’s home match on a day when the maw-paw-and-weans set boosted the crowd for the recent Scottish Cup tie against Fraserburgh. The rise in octave from the stands will have been matched, no doubt, by the mood of retailers official or otherwise. An expensive day.Weans, however, need not always be pricey.

On the pitch, Zak Lovelace, Clinton Nsiala and Mason Munn started the match with Bailey Rice and Findlay Curtis joining them from the bench in the second half. The inclusion of regulars Jefte, Barron, Diomande, McCausland and King at one stage or another meant that the average age of the team was probably as low as it has been for a number of years.

I mean, it must have been, right? I’m sure I could work it out if I had either inclination or energy but, given that’s not the case, let’s just run with assumption.

Old Trafford gave Rice a suitable platform on which to display his obvious natural talent and, more importantly, the developments he has made to his game over the precedingmonths. This was more than a cameo. Coming on in trying circumstances, his assuredness on and off the ball was impressive. He ‘sees the picture’ as football folk are oft wont to say and carries himself with an understated gallusnesswhich ought to be a prerequisite for any serious central midfield player.

Another young player to make his mark over the two cup matches was, of course, Findlay Curtis. In contrast with Rice, Curtis was not lauded as a sixteen year-old and wasn’t initially offered a professional contract in the summer of 2022. At that time, the club retained only a few of the academy boys - most notably Leyton Grant and Zander Hutton - whilst looking further afield to acquire the likes of Rice, Paul Nsio and Archie Stevens.

Allowed to train and play as an amateur, Curtis had to overcome his contractual disappointment and being shuntedout of position in many games. He did so. Playing as a wide forward or number nine he began to make clear that he heldthat rarest of knacks – a natural ability to score goals. Thankfully for him and hopefully the also the club, he continued to score at prodigious rate and a contract was duly offered. The recently agreed three-year extension makes the original call look a wee bit silly.

The relative inactivity in the January transfer window has focused attention on the output of the youth set-up. In a world where we can no longer pay squad players English Championship wages, how can the academy add to the first team pool?  

Like the club as a whole, it feels like the youth set up has been wrestling with itself over what it wants to be. Craig Mullholland’s decision making over the piece must now be regarded as, at best, questionable, and it is somewhat ironic,given our current issues with the first team squad, that he ended up in Nottingham with arguably the main architect of those woes. Ross Wilson’s scattergun signing policy left financial debris which lingers still; Mullholland’s legacy is equally damning.

The purpose of the academy is two-fold: it must produce young players ready to make an impact in the first team and beyond; when this happens the second purpose kicks in. As unpalatable as might be, no young Rangers’ player should limit his ambition to playing in the SPFL. If the academy is to function properly then it must become a significant part of the player trading model. The problem we have had is that decisions made with the objective of facilitating this process have gone terribly wrong.

A withdrawal from the youth league to focus on ‘best versus best’ against English and European clubs sparked then fizzled fairly quickly. Oddly enough, these teams had their own fixture list to fulfil. When the B team were annoyingly but understandably refused access to League 2, the Lowland League became their home. What, one wonders, was going to be learned in that environment? How to avoid a two-footer from a jobber trying to injure a hun? Whatever the reasoning, these initiatives plainly did not work. And the result? An academy bloated with a surfeit of players in their early twenties who had virtually no meaningful football experience. Talented boys who might have developed differently had the pathway been better paved. The bottom line is the academy hasn’t done its job.

So, the recent noise around the youth set-up and alterationsmade at RTC should be welcomed. Driven by Koppen and Clement, fundamental changes are being implemented to flip the script. The B team will soon be no more and evidence for this is already apparent. Short term loans for Grant, McKinnon and Gentles are in place and these will become commonplace for our 18/19 year-olds. They’ll play games with something at stake. They will better understand the jeopardy of league football far from the comforts of home. It will be challenging for them, but ultimately it is only through these trials that progress and players are made.

The figure of Nils Koppen now looms large over the RTC as he presides over the academy plan as part of his wider remit. This represents a joined-up-thinking which has been conspicuous through its absence for quite some time. The mooted return of Kevin Thomson to work alongside the impressive Steven Smith should also raise spirits. These are men who are held in the highest respect by the young players and have Rangers running through them.

For the first time since 2012 (and let’s face it, for decades before then) there is a plan. In a club-wide period of introspection and reflection, moves are being made to make the academy a fundamental part of the football club that Rangers wants – and needs – to be. A functioning and successful academy becomes more than the sum of its parts – it can be the catalyst which shapes the long-term future of the club.

Robin Erskine