It’s a big step from promising youngster to senior professional and two of Rangers finest academy prospects are finding it hard to adjust out on loan at their respective clubs.
Kai Kennedy and Josh McPake are currently at Dunfermline Athletic and Harrogate Town respectively, a considerable step down from the pressures of playing under Steven Gerrard and yet the early signs are that they have a long way to go if they are to match Nathan Patterson’s feats in the first team.
The pair have been linked with big clubs before when they were starring for Rangers youth teams but they now need to find the numbers that that senior football demands from it’s front players – it’s all fair and well being quick or good with the ball at your feet but there needs to be an end product, goals and assists in old money.
Between them, they have yet to provide either a goal or an assist although McPake does at least seem to be making a positive impression, in Kennedy’s case, after doing well at Raith Rovers and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, he was expected to make the step up this year and prove that he is capable of moving dressing rooms at Auchenhowie.
Gerrard has spoken before about ego and attitude and that it takes more than just ability to make it at a club like Rangers, there are, of course, plenty of examples of players who have gone out on numerous loan spells before finally getting a chance at their parent club – Harry Kane immediately springs to mind.
It’s a big season for the pair, let’s hope they can turn the corner and not become the next Zak Rudden or Ryan Hardie, good players who will do well for themselves, but never reaching their full potential and becoming a regular for Rangers.