02 Mar 2026 13:08:34
Chris Condy away to Brighton.
02 Mar 2026 13:53:47
Good luck to him, John.
02 Mar 2026 13:59:40
Makes me wonder what the point of the academy is.
02 Mar 2026 14:38:11
Can't blame these kids for chasing the money and the glory that the EPL can bring.
02 Mar 2026 15:23:49
Can you elaborate on this boy John: age, position, nationality, and did we have high hopes for him?
02 Mar 2026 15:28:01
Best move. Would have likely joined an ever growing list of academy graduates who play a handful and disappear.
02 Mar 2026 15:29:40
He moved to us from Hamilton at the start of the season on a 1 year deal. Brighton, I understand, are offering a fee, so we will make more than normal compensation, I read.
That is part of the reason, i.e. we make cash from them even if they don't make it with us.
02 Mar 2026 17:13:34
Hate to begin to agree with Rfc22. Very few are making us any kind of money, and we are paying out compensation too to bring them in, so, barring one or two, it's not proving much point at all, and is probably hindering some players' development.
02 Mar 2026 17:14:31
So we're pimps then. 😉 😇 👍
02 Mar 2026 17:38:12
Rfc, because we won't pay 16 year olds 7 k.
02 Mar 2026 17:42:27
Davie signed him in July after Hamilton closed their academy, Scottish No. 9. Looked very, very good, 20 goals in six months, just turned 16
For those who say don't have an academy, how do you get homegrown players for Europe? Till SFA create men's league we r doomed.
02 Mar 2026 18:46:22
Doomed, ah tell ye, sorry 😉 but you're right, John. SFA just doesn't seem interested, mate. 👍
02 Mar 2026 18:51:05
I do still agree, John, but it's a mess caused by the SFA, not Rangers' fault. I can understand kids chasing the money down south, and there's also a pathway for them there, too, to play and develop.
02 Mar 2026 20:22:29
Kaiser, 100% SFA. Affects all clubs up here.
02 Mar 2026 21:59:51
Kids won't get a chance unless they're freakishly good. Fans are on players' backs constantly, and it's not a good place for a youngster to play with freedom and learn. It's a shame.
02 Mar 2026 22:16:11
The financial argument I used still stands. But why run an academy if the path to the first team is essentially blocked? It's easy to blame the SFA, but that's a cop-out to an extent. If the club's goal is truly player development, they need a clear internal strategy to bridge the gap between youth and senior levels, rather than just pointing fingers.
They may be thinking about it now, but that is a bit late imo.
02 Mar 2026 23:21:43
The path isn't being blocked by the clubs though, Angus, it's entirely the SFA. If you're not yet good enough to be a regular starter at 18, you have no structure of football to play anymore to learn and develop, other than hoping for loans or friendlies, so how can u have a clear strategy? It's a national disgrace.
02 Mar 2026 23:30:47
John, we pay for their training facilities and pay other teams money for them. I honestly don't see the point, in my opinion. It's a waste of f****** time. Any decent player just f***s off down south.
02 Mar 2026 23:31:57
John, none of our home-grown players play, and the ones we have are not good enough. Honestly, there is no point in its current state.
03 Mar 2026 07:06:15
Rfc22, you are acting as if the academy costs us tens of millions a year.
The Rangers Youth Development Company, which helps generate funds, has donated 12 million in 25 years. Alongside products like the Lotto, the sale of one academy player for 500k essentially covers any need for the RYDC to donate.
It's not like we're Chelsea investing 300million into it a year.
03 Mar 2026 07:40:49
Kaiser, that is my point, though. If the pathway is blocked, then what is really the point of having it? We have had reserve leagues, we have had a B team for a couple of years, but there has been no sign of any improvement in players coming through.
We buy/compensate for good young talent, and they never get further.
They do go down south because of that lack of pathway and the cash on offer.
But, until the club finds a way to bypass the SFA's ineffectiveness in this, then it won't improve. We need to take control of what we can, and push this on.
03 Mar 2026 09:42:26
Perhaps the question that needs to be asked is why we no longer play a B team in the Lowland League. That was the pathway to the first team, yet the club has decided not to continue with it.
Blaming the SFA for it is, quite frankly, embarrassing. The SFA does not run any leagues in this country. Perhaps the SPFL could introduce a reserve league, but it is in no way the fault of the SFA.
03 Mar 2026 10:00:53
DTB, I'm sure it was put to a vote in the leagues, and they voted for it to be stopped, or else a vote was canned. I can't quite remember the details, but to say the SFA aren't standing in the way of progressing young Scottish talent is a joke. All the reserve leagues and the like that used to be were scrapped, and that's not clubs deciding this?
The fact that able teams aren't allowed to submit B teams into the leagues (like Germany, Spain etc.) is a joke, and I think the results of the countries mentioned there may start to indicate the effectiveness of getting kids playing men's football in systems similar to what the top team will be doing.
We're miles behind.
03 Mar 2026 10:07:24
Forza, it was the clubs who decided to scrap the reserve leagues, though. Clubs like Aberdeen decided that the cost of running these wasn't value for money, and that they didn't offer the level of competitiveness required.
Also, Celtic and Hearts still run B teams in the Lowland League, so again that was our decision to pull out.
The other 42 clubs in Scotland (I think it was them all) voted against promotion for B teams, but that was it. So we took away a pathway for our young lads there.
03 Mar 2026 10:39:08
I don't agree regarding the pathway at all, Angus. There needs to be an additional step in that pathway. Clement outlined the blueprint. We should have B teams in lower leagues, able to progress to the Championship.
That's how it's done much more successfully across Europe. It's tried and tested, but our backwards ways in Scotland won't allow it to be done.
03 Mar 2026 11:12:10
Sorry, Angus. I posted before seeing your last one. We do agree. It's definitely the way forward.
03 Mar 2026 11:30:21
No problem, Tommy. Anyway, different opinions are what make the site.
03 Mar 2026 11:39:59
Do the bouncy, perhaps I'm confused between SFA and SPFL. Maybe I should be better saying the authorities running the game. Whichever, it's still an embarrassment. It shouldn't be down to individual clubs to try and come up with a national development of our kids.
As John said in an earlier post, we need an academy because of homegrown rules, but other than that our young people are totally being let down.
03 Mar 2026 12:37:55
I don't think we paid compensation to bring in Condy. Did he not come to us because Hamiltons Academy closed down and he didn't have a club?
I don't think guys turning 16 leave because they won't be given a chance with us, it's mostly financial, and who can really blame them. All I would say is that they don't all go and do a Billy Gilmour down south, so they will make good money, but it doesn't always benefit their career.
Good luck to the boy though.
It does certainly seem that the authorities don't help in developing kids and keeping them up here. The can't-play-until-you-are-16 rule seems daft when you look at other countries.
03 Mar 2026 13:15:51
Wsl, I don't think there was any cost. Money, I agree, will be one of the main causes. However, that lack of any pathway, or so it seems, would be persuasive as well. In the EPL they seem to have a series of age banded leagues which would show the lad what he will go through.
We don't seem to have that above a certain age. We downplay players of that age in our top team, and, with the number of goals he has been scoring, he may want to at least have that promise.
03 Mar 2026 13:20:23
Having watched matches in the Lowland League over the past few seasons, which are very competitive, and noting that Hearts and Celtic still have their B teams involved, which is good for developing young players.
We, as a club, just seem to have occasional friendlies and tournaments, but we need a structure to aid the development and pathway to our first team, to at least stop our brightest prospects who head to the EPL, which admittedly is cash orientated.
What is the answer to this problem?
03 Mar 2026 16:55:25
Cal B, all the staff, facilities and other costs cost money to run. Putting on games, I reckon it must cost over 4 million a year to run. To me, that's been a massive waste of 4 million a year.
03 Mar 2026 19:41:28
It was Michael Beale who pulled us out the Lowland League because he thought that the level was so poor that it was of no benefit to youngsters and not an indication of who could step up.
It also gave some of the hammer throwers at this level a chance to have a kick at our youngsters. Look at the tackle on Alex Lowry that put him out for months.
03 Mar 2026 21:47:09
Rfc, the Rangers Development Fund put a lot of cash towards it. Over the last 5 years, the academy has made around £20M straight profit, so that might be what they spend £4m per year.
There have been the odd player, such as Paterson, who has made it, and it is worth the effort even for 1 gem if it isn't actually costing cash, as it is self-sufficient, surely.
04 Mar 2026 07:27:27
Rfc, unfortunately u don't understand how it operates. I was involved in the academy for 40 years.
The foul on Lowry was a Challenge Cup tie against Dumbarton.
04 Mar 2026 12:09:41
The majority of the teams in the Lowland League try to play football, and hammer throwers are a bit OTT.
04 Mar 2026 16:02:31
Angus, it's not the club's fault, mate. There is nothing after Under 18s, though they are trying to change that now that EHL alluded to. The B team wasn't going for long enough either. It's the reserve league, or lack of it, and it's plain as day.