Rangers and Celtic agree on very little when it comes to football, however, the addition of “colts” teams into Scottish football’s lower tiers is something they have been striving to achieve for years.
A recent report suggested that both clubs could look to pay their way into the leagues, however, as yet there has been no confirmation one way or the other as to whether or not the proposal is viable.
Last season saw the Light Blues academy team reach the semi-finals of the challenge cup, only just losing out to a very experienced Inverness Caledonian Thistle side, drawing praise from manager John Robertson in the process, the talent is there, but they need to opportunity to develop against senior players – the biggest reason why there are so many young Rangers players currently out on loan.
One manager who supports the proposal is Caledonian Braves boss Ricky Waddell who, in an interview reported by Glasgow Live, claim that the whole pyramid needs to be looked at, not just the addition of colts teams:
“For me, Rangers and Celtic coming in I’d be easy with that, but the whole setup would need to be looked at and the clubs at our level would be able to get promoted easier.
“That would be to the extent where it goes into a play-off situation in the Lowland League between the top few teams instead of what it is at the moment – which is heavily, heavily against the Lowland League and the Highland League.
“I wouldn’t be against the Colts if the system in the SPFL was going to have more ventilation up the way, so ambitious Lowland League clubs can get up into the setup. If teams are not good enough in League Two and finish bottom, they need to come down.
“That’s football, that’s sport – it has to be performance-related.
“I worked at Rangers as a youth academy coach and I recognise that young players need to develop and they need to develop in a competitive environment, so that’s why Rangers and Celtic are wanting to do this – which I would tend to agree with.
“It gives them that competitive environment.”
Of course Waddell is right, from a selfish point of view we almost have a full team worth of senior academy players out on loan as it is, in terms of their prospects of making it into the Rangers team they would be better served staying as part of the club’s set up where a style of play and ethos can be drummed into them at every age group.
Do you want to see a Rangers Colts team in the SPFL?
Yes
No
Those on the outside might not be happy with Rangers – and Celtic – thinking that it should be all about them but a quick look at the Scotland set up shows that players from the Old Firm, and in particular those from Auchenhowie, make up the largest percentage of each age group, it is in the country’s best interest to make sure that the best young players get the best possible chance to succeed.