And on a much positive note, Rangers’ Youth Cup win over Aberdeen, as brilliant as earning silverware was, was far more about learning about the players of tomorrow, and it would be going without saying that Paul Nsio shone like a beacon v the Dons, truly standing out, and did a bunch of media duties afterwards as well.
The 18-year-old attacking midfield, who claims dual citizenship between England and DR Congo but is primarily English, not only sparkled with several brilliant runs in that first half, but also handled the media side with an outstanding maturity which belied his young age.
Don’t get us wrong, he’s not a child, but at 18 he’s still not ‘a man’ quite yet, but you wouldn’t know it looking at him, watching him, and noting his maturity in the post-match media stuff.
There was a little bit of boyish excitement and giggling, quite rightly after winning the national cup. but Nsio absolutely has the tools in his locker to develop and knock on the first team squad door.
Of course, there are always shades of past youth attacking failures like Kai Kennedy who ended up in the ignominy of York City, while Nathan Young-Coombes never did break into Brentford’s senior side and had an underwhelming loan at League Two Wimbledon.
Will Nsio break that trend? Will he be a rare success from Rangers’ youth setup?
We’ll not put that pressure on him. He has the tools to do it, but he will have to work very hard if that’s his ambition.
Speaking after the match he said:
“I think myself, Archie [Stevens], Leyton [Grant], Findlay [Curtis] and Mason [Munn], who were all involved last year, gave absolutely everything because of what happened last year. It’s our last year as Under-18 players, so we just wanted to end it on a high note. I was devastated last year that we lost, crying, but this year I’m just happy. I can’t explain how happy that I am. We’ve worked hard since the first round, getting past St. Andrews United, Fraserburgh, Hearts and Dundee United. They haven’t been easy games and we’ve really had to pull through. It’s the best feeling ever to win it here at Hampden.”
He was a delighted young man – hopefully we’re seeing more of him in the future.