Rangers have been challenged by Scotland manager Steve Clarke to join together with the other SPFL teams and figure out how to get more young players playing elite football.
With statistics showing the SPFL significantly trails behind other comparable nations in terms of minutes for U21 players, the absence of young players in Scottish football is currently a heated issue of discussion.
With 18% of their minutes this season going to junior players, Motherwell leads the Scottish Premiership, a statistic made public by analyst Gary King on X stirred the conversation.
Rangers, however, are at zero. Aberdeen and Celtic also do.
Furthermore, the statistics are similarly dismal when comparing Scotland’s top three clubs to those in comparable sized countries.
Scotland’s persistent underperformance over the past few decades has been directly linked to the issue, and the conversation has taken on a new significance in advance of their match against Croatia in the UEFA Nations League.
On the national level, the Croats routinely outperform their opponents, and they even made it to the 2018 World Cup Final in Russia.
Steve Clarke is now being asked questions about the situation when Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell brought up the numbers in a recent interview with BBC Sport.
Regarding Croatia, Clarke has urged the country to adapt its approach by bringing in young talent, believing that Scotland may benefit from what the Balkan country is doing.
“Scotland must change.” youth setup
“That’s a really, really good question,” Clarke said to Sky Sports when asked what Scotland isn’t doing well and Croatia is.
“They have their system in place from the very beginning to the end.
“Because they keep bringing these players through, as if they have a talent conveyor belt.”
Additionally, they have several players who have been at the top level for a long time, earning over 100 caps or between 75 and 100. All they need is the proper balance.
They develop many talented young athletes, nurture them, and let them play a good number of games in their home nation before they leave.
This, in my opinion, is a pretty solid foundation and something that our nation might be able to improve on.
And provide the younger players with a path. If Scotland is to improve, there are many things we must continue to work towards.
“If we continue doing what we’re doing, nothing will improve, so we need to think of something that’s perhaps a little bit different.
“We’ll always get what we get if we keep doing what we’re doing.”
“Therefore, we must try to find a way, but the change must be spearheaded from the top so that they recognise the need for change before we can attempt to make it.”
Rangers and other SPFL clubs must clash.
Additionally, Steve Clarke has called on the SPFL clubs to unite and adopt a new set of guidelines that would guide player development in Scotland.
Philippe Clement maintains that Rangers will adopt a more youth-focused strategy in the transfer market and on the pitch as a result of the mounting pressure at the club.
But up until now, players like Robbie Fraser and Cole McKinnon have only had brief chances, and once-talented players Leon King, Adam Devine, and Alex Lowry are now on the team’s periphery.
With players like Findlay Curtis drawing attention to the Rangers B team, Philippe Clement and company are hesitant to put the 18-year-old into action. This situation needs to alter.
Even though there have been encouraging developments in this area at Ibrox this season, others, like Bailey Rice, have found their Rangers prospects constrained.
Clarke stated, “It requires a collective understanding.” The individuals in charge of the clubs are also involved, not simply those at the SFA.
“Everyone should get together and try to figure out how we can get better going forward.
“I am unable to speak for the clubs regarding whether they believe their club is more significant than the national team.
“I understand both sides of the debate because, as a former club manager, you have your own interests to consider.
“You’re under weekly pressure as a club manager to achieve results, and sometimes you have to use more seasoned players to meet that goal.
However, we need to recruit more young players because the more young players you find, the more likely it is that some of them will make the starting lineup.
There are probably just two or three young Scottish players on the periphery of most clubs right now.
“Is there anything more we can get? Please give us half a dozen. Is it possible for us to acquire eight? That’s the kind of figure we ought to aim for.
“Playing is really crucial for young players. Instead of requiring these young players to be in the matchday squad, the goal is to figure out how to get them to play.
“Because they don’t play in the matchday squad, they don’t play at the underage level, and they don’t get any minutes.”
“Their chances of having a career increase with the number of minutes they receive.”
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