[Official] Rangers appoint Zurab Amirian as Head of Academy

[Rousseau 10,602]

RANGERS are delighted to confirm the appointment of Zurab Amirian as Head of Academy Football from January 1st 2024, subject to the obtainment of a work permit.

 

https://www.rangers.co.uk/Article/rangers-confirm-zurab-amirian-as-head-of-academy/5cRtQrLKfQfffYECEtZCve

[yuddie 1,693]

Ngl I'm getting a bit of a 'all fart and no shite' vibe with our academy atm, if you're going to poach top candidates from Belgium to work in our setup but give none of our players in our academy !!SUBSTANTIAL!! minutes then what's the point?

 

We get no help from our national association granted but it shouldn't be this difficult. You just can't tell me that we've had a team of young duds for the last 5 years?

 

Kinell, I'm English and it's pissing me off that Rangers can't produce their own.

 

Look at the women's team for example, 7 call ups in the last intl break to the Scotland squad and building the team around young shoulders.

 

Rant over ha.

 

 

[BEARGER 1,830]

Not impressed, he only has 250 X(Twitter) followers.

[yuddie 1,693]

8 minutes ago, SykseyBear said:

We aren't in a position to throw kids into the team right now unfortunately. We aren't strong enough. The toxicity around the club the last few years would ruin them. Look how it hindered King under Gio. Once we are strong enough, and able, to "carry" a few youth players i am absolutely sure the manager will throw them in. Right now wee Bailey Rice has about 7 highly paid experienced players ahead of him. McAusland has 2 or 3 ahead of him. King has 4 or 5. Devine has 2 including the club captain. Cole McKinnon has about 6 or 7 ahead of him. McCrorie has the best goalie we've had since probably Goram ahead of him.  It's a difficult place to make it for a young player. The demand for success and silverware far outweighs the demand or need to blood kids. 

 

What we need is a successful Rangers first and then we can start blooding kids properly. Look at what a top Rangers side done to Barry Ferguson and Charlie Miller. Both of them were sensational young players who played in 2 of our best teams in recent memory surrounded by some of the best players we've ever seen at the club. Neither of them would have made it here under a Beale, Pedro or Ally. Young players need help, and it has to be the correct environment under the right manager.  

 

 

I agree mate, the lower leagues was the chance to reset but the management (on and off the pitch) were scared stiff of even attempting to focus on young domestic and academy talent..it's a big bug bear of mine.

 

Edited November 7, 2023 by yuddie

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,327]

Welcome aboard Zurab. We are going very Belgian these days.

[BEARGER 1,830]

17 hours ago, BEARGER said:

Not impressed, he only has 250 X(Twitter) followers.

Now has 1400 followers, weird.

[Gonzo79 15,292]

19 minutes ago, BEARGER said:

Now has 1400 followers, weird.

You know Rangers FC has 792k followers, some of whom follow various employees and fan accounts too?  😀

[JohnMc 2,750]

19 hours ago, SykseyBear said:

We aren't in a position to throw kids into the team right now unfortunately. We aren't strong enough. The toxicity around the club the last few years would ruin them. Look how it hindered King under Gio. Once we are strong enough, and able, to "carry" a few youth players i am absolutely sure the manager will throw them in. Right now wee Bailey Rice has about 7 highly paid experienced players ahead of him. McAusland has 2 or 3 ahead of him. King has 4 or 5. Devine has 2 including the club captain. Cole McKinnon has about 6 or 7 ahead of him. McCrorie has the best goalie we've had since probably Goram ahead of him.  It's a difficult place to make it for a young player. The demand for success and silverware far outweighs the demand or need to blood kids. 

 

What we need is a successful Rangers first and then we can start blooding kids properly. Look at what a top Rangers side done to Barry Ferguson and Charlie Miller. Both of them were sensational young players who played in 2 of our best teams in recent memory surrounded by some of the best players we've ever seen at the club. Neither of them would have made it here under a Beale, Pedro or Ally. Young players need help, and it has to be the correct environment under the right manager.  

 

 

Charlie Miller didn't come close to fulfilling his potential, he was genuinely one of the best players in the world when he was a schoolboy. Barry Ferguson did, but I doubt he would have if Advocaat hadn't taken over when he did and chose to build a side around him. 

 

Of the players you've mentioned above I suspect only Bailey Rice has a real chance of making it with us. The rest will get some games but I can't see them become first team regulars, I expect they'll move on when their contracts are up. Lowry still has a chance, but his inability to secure a starting berth in a poor Hearts side suggests to me he's still missing that something required to become a top professional. 

 

We hear the same platitudes about pathways and opportunities trotted out time and again, but I honestly wonder if we should bin our youth set up and simply focus on our first team. Indeed I'd go as far as to say all professional football clubs in this country should.  

[Bill 13,717]

35 minutes ago, JohnMc said:

Charlie Miller didn't come close to fulfilling his potential, he was genuinely one of the best players in the world when he was a schoolboy. Barry Ferguson did, but I doubt he would have if Advocaat hadn't taken over when he did and chose to build a side around him. 

 

Of the players you've mentioned above I suspect only Bailey Rice has a real chance of making it with us. The rest will get some games but I can't see them become first team regulars, I expect they'll move on when their contracts are up. Lowry still has a chance, but his inability to secure a starting berth in a poor Hearts side suggests to me he's still missing that something required to become a top professional. 

 

We hear the same platitudes about pathways and opportunities trotted out time and again, but I honestly wonder if we should bin our youth set up and simply focus on our first team. Indeed I'd go as far as to say all professional football clubs in this country should.  

I've long questioned the point of committing resources to a youth program that produces so little benefit to the trophy cabinet. Either the youth programme is flawed or the entire concept is pointless. At the moment we appear to be pursuing a youth set up purely out of little more than habit. as things stand, I'd prefer if the entire football operation was dedicated to the first team squad.

[Rousseau 10,602]

It's an interesting idea, doing away with the youth setup. 

 

Brentford did it, mainly because they couldn't justify the outlay. Instead, they focused entirely on their B-team; hoovering up young and overlooked talent through data analytics.

 

We do have a B-team, and seem to be increasing our use of data-driven scouting. 

 

I wish we could get our B-team in the professional leagues, too.