There is a dichotomy among Rangers fans (and football fans in general in truth) whereby the supporters want to see the youth players feature, but then frequently whine when they do that the kid isn’t good enough.

This sounds like damned if you do damned if you don’t, but equally, there’s nothing actually hypocritical about it all.

We DO want to see the young lads from the Academy feature in the first team, but we also want them to be good enough to justify our faith in them.

See, Leon King hasn’t quite risen to the level it was hoped – he is only 19, but he’s just not impressing as a senior Rangers player, certainly in comparison with the last young CB to stand out there, Danny Wilson at just 18 all those years ago. He was excellent, and left for £4M to Liverpool.

But then we have Nathan Patterson, about the same age as King, and he was clearly a class apart – the fans loved him, and wanted more of him, and it became a huge bone of contention to see James Tavernier always taking his RB berth.

He has looked great for Scotland and Everton, and clearly the hype was real.

But King? Unfortunately our hopes for him aren’t working out. He’s 19, and showing very little sign yet of quality at the top level, at senior. Robby McCrorie, on the other hand, has. While it has taken him a lot longer than King to get some appearances, the young(ish) goalie has impressed, and shown what quality Auchenhowie can produce.

It just happens that King is falling short.

This is not hypocrisy, nor is it unfair – it’s just fans not really rating a player from the Academy, and that’s not two-faced after wanting the kids to feature.

The fans are allowed to ask for the kids to be played, and allowed not to rate them when they do. It’s only when you ‘see it for yourself’ does it satisfy the question, one way or another.

King, we believe, is quite a bit below the level needed, but we might be wrong.

But that doesn’t mean fans aren’t allowed to ask for the kids to feature more.