Rangers’ youth academy has to release a plethora of young players by the year. Now, it appears to be something that’s being used to beat the club over the head with.
Looking back to the Betfred Cup semi-final against Aberdeen last weekend, Lewis Ferguson notched the winner. Despite being barely in the game, the young midfielder powered a fine header home late on. It won the Dons the game and Rangers went crashing out.
Fair play to him for it. It was a fine header and he took charge from a set-piece at a time when it looked as if only Rangers were the ones pushing forward.
Yet, the ridiculous question about why Rangers rejected another young star came up once more. Ferguson had been in Rangers’ books between 2009 and 2013. So, Rangers therefore released him when he was just 14 years old. Apparently the coaches didn’t see something that Hamilton did when they picked him back up.
There’s several aspects people have to take into consideration before launching a tirade on the Gers academy.
Firstly, Ferguson hasn’t exactly controlled the midfield in games for Aberdeen this season. Whilst impressing and showing flashes of quality, he’s not been a real standout up north to the rest of the country so far.
His performance at Hampden was hardly memorable when you take into account the full 90 minutes. Ferguson was barely in the game before his goal, as Rangers were overpowering the Granite City side in the midfield.
Questionable logic
Apparently, because he scored a header, Rangers should never have let him go. It’s so narrow-minded and illogical to think that just because Ferguson has improved and scored a goal against Rangers.
Then you have the fact that if he was in Rangers’ side, he would be getting criticised all over the place for not controlling games enough. The former Hamilton star isn’t in a side with huge pressure on a weekly basis. Aberdeen can get away with slipping up now and again, where as with Rangers you have to win every week.
Ferguson hasn’t shown anything to make you believe he could be a Rangers star as of yet. He’s still such a young player, and could turn into a real hero in the future. At the moment, however, he isn’t one, and Rangers made a decision on him five years ago when nobody could see the kind of player he would turn out to be.
We’ve heard a similar argument with Lewis Morgan of Celtic too. He’s a bit different in the sense that he was released for being too small. That seems to have spurred the Celtic man on to great things, and he’s proved Rangers wrong.
The key thing is, however, you can’t criticise a youth academy for letting players go so young. Especially when they’re still not good enough to be featuring in that club’s side.
Every club in world football let potential stars go. It’s the risk the youth academies have to take. Coming out five years later and criticising them for their decision? That’s harsh in the extreme considering hindsight is a wonderful thing.
