Rangers always used to provide a core of the Scottish national team, as the dominant force in the country, local talent always permeated towards Govan.
The advent of the Bosman ruling and abolition of the three-foreigner rule was supposed to make it easier for teams from leagues like the SPFL to compete in Europe, however, all it has done is diminish the opportunities for players from the Rangers academy.
There are other factors, but freedom of movement and bargain basement signings has undoubtedly been the biggest.
Once upon a time though, Scotland would go to World Cups with Rangers players at the heart of their team, if the manager picked them that is.
In 1990, Andy Roxburgh, then in charge of the national side with Craig Brown as his assistant, made one of the biggest mistakes of his or any other international managers’ careers by not picking two in-form Rangers stars, and Ally McCoist in particular.
When the Scotland manager made critical Rangers duo mistake
The previous summer saw a transfer that shook Scottish football when Graeme Souness ruined a generation of Celtic fans by signing Maurice Johnston.
There were plenty of Rangers fans unhappy about the deal too given his allegiances and religion, however, the complaints soon disappeared such is the fickle nature of football fans, especially after scoring his first Old Firm goal.
At the end of the season, Rangers had won the league with the dynamic duo of Johnston and McCoist leading the line.
It made sense that the opening game of the FIFA World Cup in Italia 1990 between Scotland and Costa Rica would see the pair line up again, as they had done through qualifying.
Not so, explained McCoist on Talksport after the death of Brown in 2023:
“There’s a million stories. A million,” said McCoist about much loved character Brown.
“The World Cup as well, over in Italy, when Andy Roxburgh reads out the team and he says ‘Mo and Nally,’ big (Alan) McInally who was playing for Bayern Munich and Wee Mo (Johnston).
“I think he’s said ‘Mo and Ally’ and I’m sitting there thrilled to bits thinking I’m playing in opening game of the World Cup.
“I remember looking across at Craig Brown and Craig looking at me going’ Jesus, Coisty’s taken this hell of a well’.
“And then the bombshell – bang! I realised it was Nally.”
To make matters worse, Robert Fleck, McCoist’s former Rangers teammate and the last striker to graduate from the academy and make an impact, was picked ahead of him in the next game.
The Scottish core that Rangers are looking to get back to
Nils Koppen addressed signing Scots and Patrick Stewart has made it a transfer objective that Rangers should be targeting more domestic talent.
It isn’t just young players coming through that will be identified, successful teams of the past have always had a core of players signed from the SPFL.
Take the team that Johnston and McCoist played in.
John Brown, Dave McPherson, Davie Cooper, Stuart Munro, Andy Goram, Ian Ferguson and David Robertson, among many more, all arrived at Ibrox from rival teams around the league.
It might not be as competitive as it once was, however, there are plenty of players who could make a difference to Rangers’ squad.
Jack MacKenzie at Aberdeen, Lawrence Shankland at Hearts, Josh Mulligan at Dundee, would all be capable of adding depth, with St Mirren’s Toyosi Olusanya linked to Rangers already.
Lyall Cameron signed in January and, if Koppen and Stewart are true to their word, he won’t be the last.
