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Ryan Hardie should have been a Rangers regular long before now


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Scotland youth boss Scot Gemmill: Ryan Hardie should have been a Rangers regular long before now

 

11:17, 3 May 2015

By Scott McDermott

 

THE teenage striker scored twice on his first start for Rangers and the only thing that has surprised Scot Gemmill is that he wasn't a regular earlier in the season.

Sammy Turner/SNS Group

Ryan Hardie in action against Falkirk

 

SCOT GEMMILL insists Ibrox kid Ryan Hardie won’t be fazed by the Premiership play-offs.

 

That’s because the Scotland Under-17 coach reckons he should have been a first-team regular with Rangers a long time ago.

 

Gemmill has worked closely with the 18-year-old and let him lead the line at last year’s Euro Finals in Malta.

 

Hardie helped the young Scots reach the semi-finals and has now kicked on at his club this term.

 

He has already scored twice for Stuart McCall’s side and could be a key figure as the Glasgow giants try to secure Premiership promotion.

 

Gemmill has no doubts that Hardie will continue to impress in the play-offs – in fact, he’s just bemused that his chance to shine has taken this long.

 

He said: “I’m surprised Ryan wasn’t playing for Rangers sooner. I haven’t seen a lot of their games recently so that’s just going on what I know about him. He scores goals, it’s as simple as that.

 

“I’d like to see Ryan playing at the highest level with the best players to see what he can do.

 

“He’s scored goals at youth level and for the U17s so it 
would be brilliant to see him with better players.

 

“That’s part of the process for all young players – until you put them into a situation you don’t know how they’ll react, on and off the pitch. I don’t care how experienced you are.

 

“But putting them in with better senior players usually ends with good results.

 

“The pressure of the play-offs won’t bother him. When I first met Ryan a couple of years ago I remember being critical of him for not doing enough.

 

“It was in a team meeting in Romania and I had a go at him. We’d conceded a goal and I thought Ryan could have done more defensively when we didn’t have the ball.

 

“I was trying to help him get better and he’s done that.”

 

SNS Group Scotland's Ryan Hardie can't hide his disappointment after the defeat

Ryan Hardie (centre) was part of the Scotland U17 team that reached the European semi-final

 

Finding a good blend is 
something Gemmill is adept at after guiding Scotland U17s to a second Euro Finals in a row.

 

The action in Bulgaria kicks off this week with Scotland starting their Group C bid on Thursday against France before facing Russia and Greece.

 

While Gemmill is building a reputation as a respected coach he insists the country’s top kids are making his job easier.

 

He said: “The secret is good players. I remember being 
on my Pro-Licence and Andy Roxburgh was doing a 
presentation on tactics.

 

“He was looking for a bit of support from Archie Knox, who said, ‘See all that Andy, if you haven’t got the players, you’re f*****’. That is true. The 
players we have now are good and are playing well.

 

“These boys haven’t just got a will to win, they’ve got the will to prepare to win.

 

“We can finish in the top six which would see us 
qualify for the U17 World Cup in Chile. It’s about getting out of our group and all the focus is on our first game against France.”

 

He should have been put on for Miller in the second half. Miller was atrocious in the second half.

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Neither Hardie nor Gallagher will get selected ahead of Kenny Miller & Nicky Clark under McCall. Depressing but true.

Gallagher perhaps more so than Hardie should have got a chance given the lack of goals our strikers have scored this season plus he had a decent loan spell in the first half of the season.

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He said: “The secret is good players. I remember being 
on my Pro-Licence and Andy Roxburgh was doing a 
presentation on tactics.

 

“He was looking for a bit of support from Archie Knox, who said, ‘See all that Andy, if you haven’t got the players, you’re f*****’. That is true. The 
players we have now are good and are playing well.

 

This annoys me. Are we just waiting for a 'good' player to come along, or are we actively developing them and teaching them?

 

I'd like Roxburgh involved at Rangers. He's got a good technical brain -- I keep seeing his name whenever I read pieces on tactics, developing players and coaches (Mourinho was taught by him...for a bit.)

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youth should neither be a reason not to play them just the same as it should never be a reason to play them either. Deserved to be dropped after the performance last week same as walsh.

You think youths should be dropped after one poor game? In favour of whom? Players who have been awful all season?

 

Dropping players after one bad performance is a ridiculous idea, regardless of age.

Edited by Ser Barristan Selmy
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You think youths should be dropped after one poor game? In favour of whom? Players who have been awful all season?

 

Dropping players after one bad performance is a ridiculous idea, regardless of age.

there is not one degree of bad. performances are not rated purely good or bad there are levels of bad that when hit deem a player is dropped. Hardie was that bad against falkirk in nearly every facet of his game i believe he needs to be dropped so he can work on them and to give him hunger to perform better.

 

to think there is not a standard a player should acheive to merit a starting position is ridiculous in the extreme, especially when the manager believes the replacements will fair better.

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