As well as confirming Leon King is promoted to first-team duties, Giovanni van Bronckhorst also admitted youth is key, and that he seeks to utilise as many Auchenhowie lads as he can.
Rangers’ manager inspired greatly with his comments on youth, and the importance of them.
He said:
“At my other clubs I’ve always liked to get the talents involved in full-time training and I’ll do that every chance I can. I’m very happy with the standard and I’ll be pleased to have them coming into the first-team training once in a while.”
The fact Gio has a track record for letting the youth flourish; at Feyenoord Bart Nieuwkoop, Gustavo Hamer and Tonny Vilhena are just some of the kids who thrived under Gio in Rotterdam, and that was only his first season.
And clearly that bodes well for the likes of King, as well as lots of other lads coming up through the ranks.
Gio went on:
“The young players at the club should look to what happened with Nathan, because he wasn’t long in the first team but his talent has been recognised by a big club in England. That pathway is there for the young players.”
It is indeed – whether it’s selling a kid on for millions or deploying them in the first team, Rangers’ Academy now has a manager eager to see what talent comes through and how best to use them.
Since its inception Auchenhowie has lacked rearing enough talent – the only homegrown stars to really come through since 1999 are Barry Ferguson, Allan McGregor, Allan Hutton, and maybe Charlie Adam and Danny Wilson. And of course Patterson. Six players in 23 years or so isn’t spectacular, and we’d hope for greater results going forward.
With Gio now possibly we have the tools to do it.