A damning statistic provided by CIES Football Observatory that shows Rangers have fielded the lowest percentage of U21 players in the Scottish Premiership this season is a concerning sign for the club’s much-vaunted Academy.
The Gers have invested heavily in their youth system over the last few seasons under Head of Academy, Craig Mulholland.
The results across age-groups have been superb. In 2019, the SPFL Reserve League, the Scottish Youth Cup, the Alkass Cup and the SuperCupNI were all won by various Gers sides.
However, there’s been a lack of players making the step up to represent the first team on a consistent basis, as is reflected in the stats published by CIES Football Observatory.
In the current campaign, up until 1 January 2020, Rangers recorded the lowest percentage of minutes played by U21 players with just 1.7%.
There is a significant gap to second-bottom Hibernian at 6.6%, while Hearts topped the table with 20.6% and Celtic came in third with 18.7%.
Verdict
These are pretty damning statistics, showing that Rangers simply aren’t bringing young players through at first-team level.
It would be incorrect to say that the current first-team squad is too old. The likes of Joe Aribo, Ryan Kent, Alfredo Morelos, Nikola Katic and Glen Kamara are all important players and are in their early 20s.
However, there’s a clear lack of homegrown talent featuring in important league matches.
The likes of Kai Kennedy, Nathan Patterson and Josh McPake have all seen action in other competitions this season, but none have been trusted in the Premiership and with Ross McCrorie out on loan, veteran Allan McGregor is the only regular first-team player to come up through the ranks at the club.
Considering the hundreds of thousands of pounds pumped into the Academy system annually, that isn’t much of a return.
There are mitigating factors, of course. The club is under immense pressure to start winning silverware again and with pressure comes risk aversion. Perhaps some blame lies at the feet of the first-team coaching staff for not yet showing enough faith in those coming through.
Yet, if there really was a player in the Academy who was demonstrably better than those currently in their position in the first team, they would surely be getting game time.
The silverware at youth level is great, but now it’s time for a real pathway to be created to the senior team and for tangible results to be produced.
Plenty of Bears will be hoping that over the next few seasons, the likes of Kennedy, Patterson and Leon King will nail down starting berths.
