Jordan McMillan???

[Totti 0]

Is he not meant to be one of rising stars? (genuinely).

 

Fair enough if he's not going to get a game and he can build up senior experience against older guys though.

 

Hopefully a good move for everybody.

16-18 qualifies rising star.

 

At 21 and nowhere near the first team, his ship has sailed.

 

He's the type of player who looked very promising at a young age but will probably continue his career at a fairly mediocre level in the SPL or lower English divisions. If he'd been introduced to the first team when he showed his promise, his potential might have been built on.

[calscot 0]

He's the type of player who looked very promising at a young age but will probably continue his career at a fairly mediocre level in the SPL or lower English divisions. If he'd been introduced to the first team when he showed his promise, his potential might have been built on.

 

I don't buy this. He'll go on to mediocrity but somehow would have been ready for the CL had he played for Rangers as a teenager - when the management thought he wasn't good enough or wasn't ready.

 

There are plenty of players that have been given a lot of games at Rangers and still not developed into a top European player. A recent one was a chap called Adam. He was pilloried and booed by the fans before he left. The same goes for another called Burke. There are plenty of others stretching back to Maurice Ross, Stephen Hughes, Charlie Miller, Kenny Black, Gordon Dalziel and beyond.

 

You have to be an exceptional talent to make it as a youngster at a top club in any country, there is no such thing as a conveyor belt where you produce great players merely by regularly playing your promising youngsters at an early age. I'll bet many coaches and managers wish it was that simple.

 

And that's without the fact that Scotland hardly looks like a hotbed of future world class players...

[gisabeer 409]

good point about recent youngsters comming through and being rejected by the fans though i would argue that adam was more of a victim of walter smiths negativity and tactics.

 

i wrote when young fleck was comming through to the first team that he would end up going the same way and from what i have seen so far i am being proved right.

[Totti 0]

I don't buy this. He'll go on to mediocrity but somehow would have been ready for the CL had he played for Rangers as a teenager - when the management thought he wasn't good enough or wasn't ready.

 

There are plenty of players that have been given a lot of games at Rangers and still not developed into a top European player. A recent one was a chap called Adam. He was pilloried and booed by the fans before he left. The same goes for another called Burke. There are plenty of others stretching back to Maurice Ross, Stephen Hughes, Charlie Miller, Kenny Black, Gordon Dalziel and beyond.

 

You have to be an exceptional talent to make it as a youngster at a top club in any country, there is no such thing as a conveyor belt where you produce great players merely by regularly playing your promising youngsters at an early age. I'll bet many coaches and managers wish it was that simple.

 

And that's without the fact that Scotland hardly looks like a hotbed of future world class players...

You're good at completely misinterpreting posts.

 

I said had he got more first team experience his potential might have been built on. Nowhere did I say he was ever destined to be a great player.

[Totti 0]

good point about recent youngsters comming through and being rejected by the fans though i would argue that adam was more of a victim of walter smiths negativity and tactics.

 

i wrote when young fleck was comming through to the first team that he would end up going the same way and from what i have seen so far i am being proved right.

Unlike Adam, Fleck will come good IMO. Fleck is a victim of constantly being played out of position and being shuffled around the pack. He also seems to get introduced at the wrong time. Instead of slowly being introduced against weaker teams and as a substitute, he tends to just appear from nowhere in often important matches and gets hung out to dry.

 

One of his first ever appearances was randomly thrown on against Celtic.

[calscot 0]

You're good at completely misinterpreting posts.

 

I said had he got more first team experience his potential might have been built on. Nowhere did I say he was ever destined to be a great player.

 

So what DO you mean? It all sounds a bit vague to the extent it's hardly a point at all. Are you saying that he may or may not have become a better player by playing more games?

 

In my opinion, Rangers should not gamble with the league or cups in order just to give the odd youngster a game which may or may not improve him.

 

The time to play youngsters at a top club is when they show they are, taking everything into account, the best available player for a position.

 

I would like to see the evidence which shows that playing a youngster in the first team at an early age will highly accelerate his development and change his whole future from that of a mediocre player to one that is a first choice for the best team in the country.

 

After all it didn't do much for Christian Dailly's striking career.

 

Unless you expand your posts to give a reasoned argument, how is anyone supposed to know what you mean? One liners, general put downs and declining invitations to put forward some substance behind your points, don't generally allow those on here to get any real insight into your thinking, bar that of someone trying to fluff up their feathers and strutting around...

[Totti 0]

My points are concise and convey my message clearly. Just because I don't repeat myself 900 times in every post it doesn't mean I don't get my point across articulately.

 

What I have said regarding McMillan is quite clear.

 

Regarding gambling on youngsters, I'd sooner we gambled on players like McMillan than played players like McCulloch and Daily (I know he's gone now). There has been plenty occasions in recent seasons where games have been meaningless or seasons have been over yet we've still not tried anything new. The league cup for example would be a perfect time to play as many youngsters as possible. Playing a full strength side away to Queen of the South is just pointless.

Edited December 2, 2009 by Totti

[John Barr 0]

imo McMillan could do a better job than Whittaker.

[pete 2,499]

When you are 3-0 up against Killie i am sure you could put some trust in young players to play a half hour without losing a three goal lead. I don't mean three at a time just one now and again.

[craig 5,199]

When you are 3-0 up against Killie i am sure you could put some trust in young players to play a half hour without losing a three goal lead. I don't mean three at a time just one now and again.

 

I spoke about this with ian in the WRC on Tuesday night for the Stuttgart game and had it been any other game following the Killie game I would agree with you pete.

 

However, the Stuttgart game was a must-win game and it made sense to bring guys on whom WS believed he might have to rely on against Stuttgart, rather than the youngsters.

 

I reckon that had our next game been against Aberdeen rather than Stuttgart then we would have seen a couple of those youngsters thrown on for the 2nd half.