If there’s frequently a topic which always arises around Rangers circles, it is the rhetorical question of ‘where are all the youth players?’ ‘What is the Academy for?’ ‘Why are we not producing youngsters?’ Rangers youth issue is a very, very regular poser that Rangers fans are traumatised by due to the lack of perceived youth success in the first team. The last major one, of course, was Nathan Patterson, sold for £16M. Many fans wanted to see him as the main right back over James Tavernier, but instead, of course, he was sold to Everton at a significant profit.
Academy expectations vs reality
But the problem that fans see is the lack of the Nathan Pattersons coming through, that there’s not enough of them. But the reality behind this is a lot more down to earth. It is not that Rangers do not produce enough youth. It is that no academy tends to produce enough youth, at least not for that team’s first team. This is to say the purpose of a youth academy is not to produce Barry Ferguson’s, Alan McGregor’s, Nathan Patterson’s etc. This is not the main raison d’être of any club’s youth system.
What academies are really for
The real purpose is to have a conveyor belt of average to above average talent, modest level players who will be loaned out or sold at compensation levels to lesser teams in the lower leagues or even in the lower SPL regions, and of course England. These players will be sold in the £50,000, £100,000, £200,000, £500,000 range. After having been developed for anywhere between £30,000 to £100,000 over their young careers, that conveyor belt of revenue is what keeps the lights on at the academy.
The rare gems
Every so often, a gem will appear, but we are talking years and years apart. A good example of what the academy is really all about is Nathan Patterson and Adam Devine. Adam Devine, of course, came through around about two or three years ago. He was a much vaunted player in the sense that fans really wanted to see him play. He had a half decent performance against Ross County, and that was just about it.
The reason, of course, regarding Rangers youth issue that we mention him and Nathan Patterson is that both are right backs. But it was absolutely patently obvious how good Nathan Patterson was. He was a top right back. Unfortunate with the injuries and his career being derailed at Everton, but que sera, Rangers got the money because he is that good.
But the problem is Nathan Patterson is a rare thing. Adam Devine is much more like the level that most academies for most clubs produce. They are not trying to produce dozens of quality world class players for their own team. That is not the purpose.
Revenue
The academy costs big money to run. That money needs to come back in a constant revenue stream. Not just an occasional bet at maybe producing a £5M player here and there. In reality, it is the £200,000, £300,000, £600,000, several players of that nature being sold every single transfer window. Being loaned out, little fees coming in, this is the purpose of the academy.
You get lucky occasionally with a Hutton, a Patterson, a Ferguson. These players do appear now and again. Eventually they can get sold into the many, many millions after having broken into the club’s first team. But the fact is that no club will produce reams and reams of quality youngsters that will then play in the first team.
You will get one or two. That is about it. That is why Rangers do not really produce many youngsters at all, not at that level, because most clubs do not either. Rangers youth issue is just the way of the world and it is the purpose of any youth academy, to be a revenue stream for the club year in, year out. You are not, unfortunately, going to find a Barry Ferguson every single year, if only we did.