Rangers Trialists

Along with just about everything else the blog has been in lockdown and I have been trying to find inspiration for a post to keep things ticking over. Over the years I have seen well over 1000 players in Rangers youth games, included in this number would be 100 + trialists. Now technically every Rangers academy player has been a trialist at some time, but as I only really start watching teams when they have moved to 11-a side. I’m really talking about trialists at the older age groups.

Trialists come on the scene in a variety of ways, some are scouted, some are recommended,  a fair number come from agents and sometimes a family connection can lead to a trial. In the latter group an example earlier in the season was Cameron Gascoigne nephew of Paul.  Cameron was being released by Newcastle United and played for a Rangers XI against Partick Thistle. There was a late change to the make up of the opposition with Thistle fielding a younger team than was expected, so he played against much younger players. Despite social media claims “he was running riot” and scoring an excellent goal in truth he was fairly ordinary on the day. This has been pretty much confirmed by the fact he is still without a club.

There are another couple who come into this category and were more impressive in their trial periods but never lead to a contract with Rangers. Kyle Hendry son of former Ranger Colin Hendry made a few appearances in early 2009/2010 season following his release from Blackburn Rovers, he was a striker and unlike his father he was slightly built. I thought he did reasonably well and scored a double in a friendly against Stirling Albion. He disappeared from senior football before appearing in Malta in 2015 with brief spells at Sliema Wanderers and Lija Athletic.

Hilmar McShane

The son of a lesser known Rangers player, Paul McShane also impressed on trial. On leaving Rangers in January 1998 Paul spent his whole career in the Icelandic Leagues before retiring at the end of 2018/19 season at the age of 41. Paul’s son Hilmar McShane came over from Iceland a few times, the last being in September 2015. He is a midfield player and I thought it was one Rangers may have followed up, I believe he was also on trial at Newcastle United around the same time. Hilmar is now 20 and playing for UMF Grindavik in the Iceland second tier.

Brandon John

Playing well against Rangers is another way that can lead to a trial. An impressive Ontario select team’s performance at the training ground lead to trials and contracts for Fraser Aird and Luca Gasparotto. There was a third member of that group who came over on trial, centre-back Brandon John. I believe Rangers were keen but unlike the other two he didn’t have access to a Euorpean passport. Brandon signed for German club Erzgerbirge Aue, but he only made the B team. He has since played in lower league football in USA and Canada and is currently with Atletico Ottawa.

Back in June 2011 Rangers took on top North East  Boys club Newcastle City at the training ground, although Rangers won the game 4-1 two of the opposition were invited up for a trial. Defender Connor Thomson and midfielder Dean Briggs came back in January 2012 and featured in U17 CAS Fixture against Hearts and a friendly against Crusaders. Rangers didn’t follow up their interest and Connor Thomson signed for Carlisle United before moving to Blackburn Rovers in 2014. He currently plays for Gateshead in the National League. Dean Briggs signed for Gateshead before a spell in Australia with Holland Park Hawks and Peninsula Power, he now plays for Consett FC in the Northern League.

An important source of trialists is from the work done by Rangers scout in Northern Ireland Phil Cowen. There is a steady stream of players from the province and in recent years a few from ROI. Three who first played as trialists are now youth players at the club, Chris McKee, Ross McAusland and Lewis Mackinnon. There are also two at the club across the city who played as trialists for Rangers. Ben Wylie was a regular with Chris McKee, but Rangers chose not to offer him a contract and he opted to sign for Celtic. The other is goalkeeper Conor Hazard, who was one of two Northern Irish keepers on trial at that time, the other being Tom McDermott. I’m not sure if Rangers pursued an interest in any of the two as they were the same age group as Robbie McCrorie. Hazard of course signed for Celtic while McDermott signed for Spurs, he has since played for Derry City, Ballymena and is now at Finn Harps.

A Northern Ireland youth squad which includes Rangers players Ross McAusland, Lewis Mackinnon and Charlie Lindsay. Charlie Allen of Linfield who played for Rangers in Alkass Cup is also there.

A few others from Northern Ireland worth a mention are Alberto Balde (Middleborough), Brad Lyons (Blackburn Rovers), Chris Johns (Colraine via Southampton), Josh Carson (Colraine via Ipswich Town) and Jamie Harney (Clifftonville via West Ham). I really liked Josh Carson in the games he played on trial.

A few other trialists out of the many are worth a mention. In February 2007 an agent brought in German based Ghanian Kofi Appiah, allegedly a relation of former Juventus player Stephen Appiah and he had a German passport. He played in games against Gretna and Hibernian, when Rangers decided to take things further it became apparent he did not have a German passport. Depsite his agent promising to find “a German girl to marry him” Rangers ceased their interest.

In April 2011 Rangers had a “play on the pitch” U17 game against Dunfermline Athletic at Ibrox which featured striker Omar Bogle about to be released by Birmingham City,  he was an older player by a year but scored both goals in Rangers 2-1 and the club were keen but were gazumped by Celtic and he went there. He left Celtic after a year and spent a few years non league but was scoring a goal a game at Solihull Moors and Grimsby Town he earned a big money move to Wigan Athletic before moving to Cardiff City for £700,000. Still on Cardiff’s books he has spent the last three years out on loan and is currently at ADO Den Haag.

Sergey Kundik

In February 2013 Russian-Portuguese attacker Sergey Kundik arrived on trial, born in Russia he moved to Portugal at the age of 9 and had been in the youth setups of Porto, Boavista and Spartak Moscow before arriving on trial at Rangers. He featured in three youth friendlies aganist Hearts, St. Johnstone and Dunfermline Athletic. I am pretty sure these were the only games he played in despite what it says on Wikipedia. He then joined the youth academy at Braga before playing lower league in Portugal, Cyprus and Greece. He is currently with GAS Ialysos 1948 in the Greek third tier.

Polish goalkeeper Tomasz Kucz made an appearance against St Johnstone in December 2013, I believe he was in the Polonia Warsaw academy at the time. He subsequently moved to Bayer Leverkusen, although he never made a first team appearance his highlight would be nine Champions Youth League games against the likes of Barcelona, Roma, Spurs and Monaco. He then had a loan spell at Dunajska Streda in the Slovak league where he made in one appearance in a 4-3 defeat. He is still only 20 and is now in Portugal with Vitoria Guimaraes B.

Faisu Sangare in action at The SUpercup NI

In July 2017 Rangers U16’s were heading to the Supercup NI (Milk Cup) and were maybe a bit light in the striking department, so Oldham Athletic striker Faisu Sangare arrived on trial. He featured in an U17 game against Partick Thistle and an U16 game against Morton which secured his inclusion in the squad for Northern Ireland. Her scored in all Rangers three games against County Armagh, Colina and First Choice Scoccer. Rangers were intending to “monitor his progress” but I see he is now a youth player at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Slovakian youth international attacker Dominik Martisiak made an appearance in December 2015 against Dundee United. His club at the time was FK Senica who were willing to sell. Rangers didn’t follow up and has since moved Banik Ostrava in Czech Republic, still only 19 he is on loan at second tier club MFK Vitkovice.

I have only scratched the surface on trialists I have seen, some just disappear others pop up somewhere down the line. Hopefully we will have some form of football back sometime soon.