Rangers Football Club
Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...
also operate a football Academy which contains a number of football teams culminating in a
B team
B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It r ...
, which currently participates in the
Lowland League
The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior association football, football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, actin ...
on a one-season basis as well as friendly challenge matches against various domestic and European sides in accordance with the academy's development plan, having declined the option to continue in the
SPFL Reserve League
The SPFL Reserve League is the reserve team league for football in Scotland. The league began in 2018, as the SPFL Development League was replaced by a reserve team (i.e not age-restricted) format.
History
In its first season, 2018–19, the lea ...
despite winning the competition in 2019. Historically, the club's second side was known as the ''Rangers Swifts''.
In the 2006–07 season, the under-20s won their league and the Scottish Youth Cup, ending rivals
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
's run of six consecutive league titles and defeating them 5–0 in the final of the Youth Cup at
Hampden Park
Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''PÃ irc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...
. In 2019, the Rangers under-18 team qualified for the UEFA Youth League for the first time. Underage teams also take part in the
Scottish Challenge Cup
The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Glasgow Cup and a cross-border reserve competition.
History
Beginnings of reserve football
Rangers' first known involvement in reserve league football was in 1895 when their club secretary
William Wilton
William Wilton (9 June 1865 – 2 May 1920) was a Scottish football player, administrator and manager. He was the first manager of Rangers Football Club, serving in that position from 1899 until his death in 1920, and leading Rangers to nine ma ...
initiated the setting up of the Scottish Reserve League. The competition comprised the reserve sides of five clubs; Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Leith Athletic and the Queens Park Strollers. In July 1896 the league was expanded to 10 sides, and renamed the Scottish Combination league. In 1909, a new Scottish Reserve League was set up, often including at least one non-reserve side of a non-league club in each of its seasons. The league was disbanded during World War I, but effectively re-established in 1919 as the Scottish Alliance League. As with previous incarnations, this reserve league also contained the first XI of several non-league sides. An AGM in 1938, resulted in the non-league sides being removed and the league became exclusive to First Division reserve sides. The advent of World War II, however, once again saw the suspension of national reserve league football in Scotland, although regional leagues were set up.
Inter war years
Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, all competitive football in Scotland was suspended. During this time there was special wartime football in the form of regional league competitions with Rangers playing in the Southern League. The
regionalisation
Regionalisation is the tendency to form decentralised regions.
Regionalisation or land classification can be observed in various disciplines:
*In agriculture, see Agricultural Land Classification.
*In biogeography, see Biogeography#Biogeogra ...
also saw Scottish reserve football postponed as the war effort put a major strain on the resources and playing staff of clubs with many of them serving in the
Armed forces
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
and some seeing active service abroad. The reserve side were crowned champions of their league in 1939 before seeing the following season abandoned.
1975 league reconstruction
With the end of hostilities in 1946, Rangers returned to play competitive football again with the reserve side featuring in the Scottish Reserve League. This was to continue unchanged for almost three decades until the first of many reconstructions were made to football in Scotland.
SPL breakaway
The formation of the
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...
in 1998, resulted in a significant change in youth team football in Scotland. The SPL began a league for members clubs youth players aged under-18. This was alongside the Reserve league, which had been revamped into a league primarily for under-21 players. Rangers would go on to win the under-18 league three times, first in 2001–02 then in 2006–07 and most recently in 2007–08.
Reconstructing the youth department
The opening of Rangers Training Centre ''(known as Murray Park)'' in 2001 was the one of the first stages in the club's move to develop a football academy. Although the nomenclature was not present at that time, Rangers did begin to focus upon youth development and under the then first-team manager Dick Advocaat the club appointed its first Head of Youth Development, Jan Derks, in March 2000. Derks new role was strategic and operational and saw him lay the foundations for the club's academy as well as helping the transition of the youth set-up to the new training centre. Prior to this, the club had employed a youth development officer, with their focus being solely scouting and coaching. Derks remained in position for three years despite former player Tommy McLean being recruited as his presumptive successor in May 2001 and Rangers eventually appointed former Aberdeen scout George Adams to succeed Derks in February 2003.
As the scope of the youth department grew, so did its costs, so on 20 April 2004, Rangers announced the creation of a new company which would oversee the development of the club's youth players. The company, named Rangers Youth Development Limited, was entirely self-funding but completely owned by the club. It attracted four investors from outside Rangers who have invested £1 million, with the club also putting up an initial £2.5 million. It led to Rangers F.C. being in the unfamiliar position of buying its own youth players from Rangers Youth Development Ltd. The Youth Development company owned the young players and the club had to bid for them, although it had first option on all the players. If both sides cannot reach an agreement on a transfer fee then a
transfer model will be used. Any profit made by the company will be divided between investors with the majority being invested to fund more youth players. The main reason for the formation of the company was to offset the running costs of the club's training centre. However, many of the Rangers fans were opposed to the formation of the new company. The activities of Rangers Youth Development Ltd were largely unnoticed and the company was dissolved after submitting its final set of accounts in June 2010.
The elite development era
In September 2005, as part of a restructuring of the club management, Adams left his role as director of youth football. The moves also saw future Academy heads take over responsibility for youth administration. In May 2017, the club announced its intention to withdraw from the
SPFL Development League
The SPFL Development League was the top level of youth football in Scotland, which was contested in various formats between 1998 and 2018.
History
A youth league was founded as the Scottish Premier under-18 League in 1998. Clubs fielded under-1 ...
and play a programme of matches against a mixture of English and European Academies, as well as sides from League One and
League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...
in Scotland.
In July 2018, it was reported that reserve leagues would be reintroduced in lieu of the development leagues that had been in place since 2009. The top tier of the new
SPFL Reserve League
The SPFL Reserve League is the reserve team league for football in Scotland. The league began in 2018, as the SPFL Development League was replaced by a reserve team (i.e not age-restricted) format.
History
In its first season, 2018–19, the lea ...
featured 18 clubs, whilst a second-tier reserve League comprised nine clubs. Other than a minimum age of 16, no age restrictions applied to the leagues. At the end of its first season (2018–19) which Rangers entered and won, the club – along with several others – intimated that they would withdraw from the Reserve League to play a variety of challenge matches, in a similar manner as two years earlier. They later entered a small league (under-21 plus three overage) along with three other Scottish clubs and
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...
and Huddersfield Town from the English leagues.
In May 2021, it was reported that Rangers (and Celtic) were in 'productive' talks with the Lowland Football League (the fifth tier of the senior setup) to have colt teams playing in their division for the following season, with an earlier proposal to include them in an expanded
Scottish League Two
The Scottish League Two, known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League Two was ...
(fourth tier) still under consideration by the SPFL for the year after that.
Academy structure
The Academy is responsible for providing players for the Rangers first-team and is divided into four areas. Between under-11 and under-12 level, the teams play in a seven-a-side football competition, although the latter side transitions to 11-a-side after Christmas. Thereafter, the under-12s and under-13s play on a modified pitch which is slightly smaller with reduced sized goals than regulation play but from under-14 level onward all Academy teams play on normal pitches. All players from under-8 to under-15 are schoolboys, however, from Senior level many sign contracts to become professional youth players.
The U11 to U17 age groups play in the SFA Club Academy Scotland programme at ‘Elite’ level.
In 2017, the Rangers academy was one of eight across the country designated 'elite' status on the introduction of ''Project Brave'', an SFA initiative to concentrate the development of the best young players at a smaller number of clubs with high quality facilities and coaching than was previously the case.
Academy partnerships
Rangers operate a North American Academy, which began in 2014, and have thirteen partner clubs across the United States and Canada.
The academy has a partnership with Coerver Coaching who deliver Coerver method skills coaching to the Children's section on a weekly basis. On 18 December 2015, Rangers announced a coaching and development partnership with Scottish Lowland League club Gala Fairydean Rovers which effectively saw the Galashiels side act as a feeder to Rangers. In June 2016, Rangers announced a partnership with East Dunbartonshire council which saw 24 of the club's youth players aged 11 to 15 attend
Boclair Academy
Boclair Academy, a co-educational comprehensive secondary school located in the Greater Glasgow suburb of Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, serves pupils aged 11 to 18 from Southern Bearsden, Westerton and Torrance. Boclair Academy ...
(located a short distance from the Auchenhowie complex) allowing them to combine their academic and football studies.
Competition record
Rangers were members of the
Scottish Premier Reserve League
The Scottish Premier Reserve League was the top reserve team league for Scottish football teams. The competition started at the same time as the inauguration of the Scottish Premier League in the 1998–99 season. It was initially an under-21 le ...
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...
was considering disbanding its
Scottish Premier Reserve League
The Scottish Premier Reserve League was the top reserve team league for Scottish football teams. The competition started at the same time as the inauguration of the Scottish Premier League in the 1998–99 season. It was initially an under-21 le ...
for the 2009–10 season, Rangers announced it was withdrawing its reserve team in order to play friendly games instead. After Rangers demotion to the Scottish Third Division in 2012, the club entered a reserve team into the Scottish Football League Reserve League and the side went on to win the competition. The league ended after the formation of the SPFL, with a development league for under-20's teams taking its place and the club's reserve side was disbanded.
A youth league was founded for under-18s in 1998 as an alternative to the
Scottish Premier Reserve League
The Scottish Premier Reserve League was the top reserve team league for Scottish football teams. The competition started at the same time as the inauguration of the Scottish Premier League in the 1998–99 season. It was initially an under-21 le ...
which originally was for under-21s. The former competition was widened to include under-19s in 2003. Rangers were removed from the under-19 league after the club's demotion to the Scottish Third Division in 2012, with youth players featuring in the 2012-13 SFL Reserve league instead. The formation of the
Scottish Professional Football League
The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As ...
in the 2013–14 season, saw the formation of an under-20s league with the number of teams increased to 16 and teams were allowed to field two over-age outfield players and an overage goalkeeper. The league was renamed the
SPFL Development League
The SPFL Development League was the top level of youth football in Scotland, which was contested in various formats between 1998 and 2018.
History
A youth league was founded as the Scottish Premier under-18 League in 1998. Clubs fielded under-1 ...
in 2014, with the number of teams increased to 17.
Rangers youth sides play in a number of cup competitions including the Glasgow Cup and Scottish Youth Cup. From 2015 onwards it is also possible for the Academy to participate in the UEFA Youth League by the Under-18 side winning the previous season's league at that age level, or by the senior team reaching the UEFA Champions League group stages; this was achieved in 2019 via the first route. In the
2019–20 UEFA Youth League
The 2019–20 UEFA Youth League was the seventh season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA.
Following the round of 16, the competition was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic in ...
, Rangers defeated
BSC Young Boys
BSC Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation ) are a Swiss sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 15 Swiss league championships and six Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss football clubs internationally, reac ...
of Switzerland in the opening round on away goals after a 5–5 result on aggregate, and eliminated Slovakians Slovan Bratislava 4–1 in the next.
In June 2016, it was announced by the SPFL that the
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...
Stirling University F.C.
University of Stirling Football Club are a football club based in Stirling, Scotland. They are associated with the University of Stirling and have played in the Lowland Football League since 2013. The club operates six teams which compete in a ...
of the
Lowland League
The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior association football, football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, actin ...
but lost in the next round to
Stenhousemuir
Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in ...
Solihull Moors
Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the National Leag ...
of the English National League, again away from home, this time on penalties. In the quarter-finals, they beat Wrexham from the same league at Ibrox, with many of the same players also involved in a 5–0 win over Celtic in the Scottish Youth Cup a few days earlier and in the Youth League victory over Slovan ten days later. They were drawn away to
Inverness CT
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...
in the semi-finals, meaning the Wrexham match would be their only home fixture in the competition, with two ties in England, one in Northern Ireland and one in the Scottish Highlands from Glasgow. They lost 2–1 to Inverness, but also set a new record by going further than any reserve side had previously gone in the competition. A few days earlier, Rangers' run in the UEFA Youth League also came to an end with a 4–0 defeat to
*In addition to below, Rangers F.C. Academy also operates youth sides from under-11 upwards.
*Please note that squad numbers listed relate only to first team numbers. In youth matches the team wear 1-11 and 12-21 (21 worn in place of 13) on the bench.
*Some academy players on a domestic loan can still feature for the youth sides, but cannot play for the first team.
B Team Squad
''As of 6 January 2023''
Manager history
Rangers reserve side, in its various guises, has had several managers and coaches during its operation. For many years the long standing name of the second string was the Reserve team, however, due to internal restructuring it was more recently known as the Under-20 team, then the Development squad and currently B team. As consequently the title of the manager overseeing the team changed to reflect this. Below is a list of individuals who oversaw the reserve side since approximately 1983.
Scottish Premier Reserve League
The Scottish Premier Reserve League was the top reserve team league for Scottish football teams. The competition started at the same time as the inauguration of the Scottish Premier League in the 1998–99 season. It was initially an under-21 le ...
:
** 2001
*
SPFL Reserve League
The SPFL Reserve League is the reserve team league for football in Scotland. The league began in 2018, as the SPFL Development League was replaced by a reserve team (i.e not age-restricted) format.
History
In its first season, 2018–19, the lea ...
:
**2019
* Scottish Football League Reserve League:
** 2013
* SFL Youth League:
** 1996
* SPL U-19/SPFL Development League: (3)
** 2002, 2007,
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
* Club Academy Scotland U-18 League:
** 2019,Gers Are Under-18 Champs , Rangers FC, 4 May 2019 2021
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
,
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
, 2019,
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
Milk Cup
SuperCupNI, formerly called the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament and the Dale Farm Milk Cup, is an international youth football tournament held annually in Northern Ireland. The cup matches are mainly played in the North Coast area of ...
: (2) (Premier)
** 1984, 1992
*
Milk Cup
SuperCupNI, formerly called the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament and the Dale Farm Milk Cup, is an international youth football tournament held annually in Northern Ireland. The cup matches are mainly played in the North Coast area of ...
: (Junior)
** 1985
* Festival Cup: (U-20)
** 2002
* Iris Club International Tournament: (2) (U-19)
** 1979, 1981
* Gothia Cup: (U-18)
** 1987
*
Alkass International Cup
The Alkass International Cup is an annual under-17 football tournament hosted in Doha, Qatar. It brings together some of the best under-17 teams of clubs around the world.
Format
Played across 11 days typically in January and February, the tou ...
: (U-17)
** 2019
* Club Academy Scotland U-16 League Cup:
**2022
Academy legacy
Financial return
With the opening of the club's training facility for its youth and first teams, it was hoped that this would spell a new chapter in player development for the club. However, expectations of an instant success were not accurate and with reported running costs of the facility equalling £1.5m, many commentators asked if the investment in the training ground and youth department was worthwhile.
The combined transfer fees for all Academy graduates is, to date, approximately £30m. This includes the transfer of Nathan Patterson, the single largest fee received in the club's history for any player. Some of the other transfers that have commanded fees were in the form of compensation. The list below includes players who have been schooled at the club's Academy and have commanded a transfer upon their departure.
List of Academy graduates
Below is a list of players who made a first-team appearance for Rangers, whilst a youth team player at the club. This includes both players that have come through the club's Academy set-up and also young professional players signed for the Academy who then go on to play in the first-team. The list includes all youth team graduates from the opening of the
Rangers Training Centre
The Rangers Training Centre is the training ground of Rangers located in Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It was opened in 2001 and originally named Murray Park after the then Rangers owner David Murray. It is also often referred to as ...
in 2001 to the present day.
Players in bold are currently at the club.