Yesterday’s announcement of the departure of young Finn Serge Atakayi brings to another end the hopes of yet another aspiring youngster who turned out just not good enough for the Famous.

We wish him well, but we cannot help feeling utterly underwhelmed by the chronic lack of quality coming through at Auchenhowie these days.

Now, before we go on, we are well aware of the wonderful Nathan Young-Coombes and Kai Kennedy – these are special players and Graeme Murty’s lads have done sensationally in the Uefa Youth League.

But, to quote a prominent politician, they’re miles off being ‘oven ready’.

And that’s the issue – there’s no one now. No one ready to truly stake a claim for the first team, no promising 19-year old who looks like they are the right stuff.

No, it’s all Mebudes and Atakayis and the occasional Robby McCrorie.

Why are so few high quality young players coming through our ranks? More often than not, they go out on loan never to be seen again – and while many could point the finger at Steven Gerrard for not giving the kids a chance, the guy knows a player and there’s no way he’s rejecting good players.

Furthermore, Ross McCrorie aside, few to none of the fare from the HTC have really risen to first team prominence, and in McCrorie’s case, Stevie deemed him not ready yet and he’s rather faded a touch at Portsmouth.

We’d love to understand why our oldest youth ranks fail to reap much, and why guys like Atakayi are never good enough for us.

Answers on a postcard.