Having covered the first two Youth Cup wins in a previous post I though it was time to look at the 2002 win over Ayr United.
In 2002 Rangers successful run began at Hamilton Park, the home of Girvan FC. A goal from Gary Martin and a double from John Adam secured a comfortable if unspectacular win. Next up was a home tie against Ross County at the training centre, and singles from the previous round goalscorers saw Rangers win 2-1.
Not sure if there was another tie before the last eight clash with Celtic. If there was it may have clashed with a first team game. The Ross County game was in November and another home game against Celtic came in February. Rangers opted to take the game to Dumbarton and a superb Alan Hutton strike separated the teams. The Semi-Final threw up a trip to Brockville to take on Falkirk, a side much missed from youth football. The game finished goalless with Rangers edging through on a penalty shootout.
This matched Rangers with Ayr United and the final was played at New Douglas Park on April 10th. Rangers took the lead with a Chris Burke solo effort just before the half-hour mark. With the Rangers defence struggling to clear former Rangers academy player Scott Chaplain sent a looping header over Graeme Smith to draw the sides level just before the break.
A Charlie Adam double, a contrasting twenty-five yarder and close range finish had Rangers 3-1 up before the hour mark. Ayr reduced the deficit with an Aaron Black lob, but Chris Burke soon restored Rangers two goal lead with his second of the game to ensure Rangers victory.
Graeme Smith:- “Buzz” never made a first team appearance but has had a varied career and is currently on the books of Stenhousmuir. He played in the premier league with Motherwell and Hibernian, he made the Scotland squad during his time at Motherwell and although he never got a full cap he did make a Scotland B appearance against Republic of Ireland in November 2007. His biggest headline was probably signing for former England Internationalist Tony Adams at Azerbaijan side Gabala where he spent a season.
Alan Hutton:- One of many from this squad that needs no introduction. My early memories of Alan was as a midfielder but his career really took off when he moved to right-back. He made his first team debut in December 2002 and really came to the fore with his performances in the 2007/2008 Champions League games. This saw him reluctantly move to Spurs in January 2008 for a reported £9 million. His time at Spurs was interrupted with a short loan spell at Sunderland. In August 2011 he moved to Aston Villa where he would spend the rest of his career, although there was loan moves to Notts Forest, Real Mallorca and Bolton Wanderers. He made a total of fifty appearances for Scotland. He was released by Aston Villa at the end of 2018/2019 season and announced his retirement in February this year.
Steven Smith:- Despite his injury problems Steven made over 100 appearances during his two spells at the club. He made his first team debut in November 2004 against Hearts. He was part of the 2010 League Cup winning side as a late substitute for Nacho Novo. Injuries meant he never nailed down a place and left for Norwich City in the summer of 2010. Further injuries limited his appearances there and he moved to Aberdeen on loan in January 2011. Spells at Preston North End and Portland Timbers followed before returning to the club in June 2013 as Rangers prepared for their League One season. On leaving Rangers at the end 2014/15 season he had a successful spell at Kilmarnock with his contract ending in May 2018. His representative appearances for Scotland peaked with a B international appearance against Republic of Ireland in November 2006.
Andy Dowie:- Captain and highly rated Andy made his one and only first team appearance a month after the final. Coming on as a late sub for Christian Nerlinger at Dunfermline Athletic. A loan spell at Brechin City gave him a taste of first team football and on leaving Rangers in 2004 he went on to make over 500 senior appearances with clubs as varied as Partick Thistle, Stranraer, Ross County, Queen of the South and Dumbarton. But his career peaked at Dunfermline where he was a regular is their 2011/2012 season in the Premier League. He signed for Cumnock Juniors earlier this season and has scored three goals in eleven appearances.
Chris McLeod:- Never manged to make the first team at Rangers but from 2004 through to 2012 he made close to 100 senior appearances with various clubs. The peak being the 2009/2010 season with around thirty appearances for League One Stenhousemuir. He also played for Morton, Arbroath, Raith Rovers, Montrose and Berwick Rangers.
Fraser Coyle:- Fraser was another that never made the first team break through. On leaving Rangers he spent season 2005/2006 at Airdrie United, scoring their seventh goal in a 7-0 win over Dundee !! He was a regular in the Forfar Athletic side the following season but then seems to have dropped from the senior game.
Chris Burke:- Another that needs no introduction Chris had already played and scored for the first team against Kilmarnock in March 2002. Illness set back his early career missing almost a year before coming back strongly and featuring well in 2005/2006 Champions League. By 2008/2009 he was out of the first team picture and moved to Cardiff City in January 2009. He made around 300 appearances during his time in the English League all in the Championship with Birmingham City, Notts Forrest, Rotherham United as well as the aforementioned Cardiff City. After a brief stint at Ross County he has been a mainstay in the Kilmarnock side for the past three seasons. He played seven times for Scotland, scoring a double against Bulgaria in the Kirin Cup in 2006.
Charlie Adam:- Made his first team debut against Livingston in April 2004. Loan spells at Ross County and St.Mirren then followed, with the time at St.Mirren being particularly successful, winning the First Division title and Challenge Cup. The following season saw Charlie established in the Rangers team culminating in winning the club’s young player of the year. Played in a number of games during the run to Manchester but was an unused sub in the final. Having lost his first team place Charlie moved to Blackpool on loan in February 2009, the transfer being made permanent in August that year for £5000,000. A strong performance during Blackpool’s season in the Premier League saw Liverpool pay £6.75 million for his services. He did well in hist first season at Anfield but slipped out the picture the following season and moved to Stoke City for a reported £4 million. Seven seasons in The Potteries took his Premier League appearances to over two hundred. He moved to Reading for the current season and has made fifteen appearances. He has played twenty-six times for Scotland but surprisingly has never scored for his country.
Darryl Duffy:- Striker Darryl made two first team appearances, in a league cup tie against Forfar Athletic in November 2003 and his league debut two months later against Dundee. A brief loan spell at Brechin City saw him score four goals in eight games. He kept up this ratio when he left Rangers for Falkirk, including nine goals in sixteen games in the Premier League. This earned him a move to Hull City for a reported £250,000 and the his nomadic period really began, taking him to his current tally of fifteen clubs. Another successful brief loan spell prompted Swansea City, then a League One club pay £200,000 for his services. He was soon on the move again, to Bristol Rovers, a loan spell in the SPL with Hibernian among others followed. Next to come was an Indian adventure, playing for Salgaocar FC, FC Goa & Mohun Bagan during a four year period. On return to Scotland he played for St.Mirren, Airdrie United and his current club Stirling Albion. He gained two Scotland B caps while a Falkirk player in 2005.
Alex Walker:- Alex made two substitute appearances in 2003/2004 season against Motherwell at Fir Park and at home to Partick Thistle. While at Rangers he had a successful loan spell at Clyde. On leaving Rangers Alex spent five seasons at Morton and a single season at East Stirling before dropping from the senior game.
Tom Brighton:- Another that made a single first team appearance, in a 1-1 draw away to Dunfermline Athletic. He had a brief loan spell at Scunthorpe United before leaving Rangers for Clyde in pre -season of 2005/2006. The highlight if his time at Clyde was being voted man of the match in their shock Scottish Cup win over Celtic. An injury hit couple of years at Millwall followed before returning to Scotland. A spell in the SPL with St.Mirren was the highlight and he also played for Dundee, Stirling Albion and Queen of the South before dropping into the junior ranks with Irvine Meadow.
Kevin Morrison:- Some supporters will remember Kevin from the “Blue Heaven” TV series. He was the only sub used on the night coming on for Darryl Duffy in the ninetieth minute. He had always been on the fringes of the youth team that season making a few substitute appearances. On leaving Rangers he had a short spell at East Stirling.
Anton Nugent:- Backup goalkeeper Anton only started a handful of games for the youth team that season, he did play in the first tie at Girvan and I seem to recall he saved a penalty but I may be wrong. On leaving Rangers he had spells at Doncaster Rovers, Stirling Albion, East Stirling and Dumbarton before playing for several Junior clubs with a spell at Albion Rovers sandwiched in between.
Gary Martin:- My memories of Gary are a bit vague and I needed a prompt to spark any real recall. He was a fairly regular member of the squad that season mainly featuring from the bench. I believe he had a spell at Clyde on leaving Rangers.
Brian McLean:- As one of the younger members of the squad his time as a youth team regular would come a wee bit later. Never made the first team but played in the Premier League with Motherwell, Falkirk, Dundee United and Ross County. He also had a spell in England with Preston North End, in Iceland with IBV and two spells with Brunei club DPMM FC who play in Singapore League. He also played for Hibernian, Dumbarton and is currently at Morton. Capped at youth level for Scotland he changed his football allegiance to Northern Ireland, playing in a friendly against Estonia. His father Stuart made over five hundred appearances for Kilmarnock and Rangers provided the opposition for his testimonial in January 1990. His brother is grade 1 referee Steven McLean.
John Adam:- Another fringe player I have a few problems recalling, he played and scored in the first two rounds. After Rangers he had spells at Morton, Montrose and Australian side Green Gully Cavaliers. He then returned to the Scotland and played for a few junior clubs.
Looking at the Ayr United side most of them had careers in the junior ranks but a couple had decent senior careers.
Stewart Kean achieved the most making almost sixty Premier League appearances for St. Mirren. As well as Ayr United, he also played for Queen of the South, Morton and Stenhousemuir.
Former Rangers academy player Scott Chaplain played for six Scottish clubs, coming close to four hundred senior games. His peak time was two years in the Championship with Partick Thistle. He is currently Head Coach for Scotland’s National Futsal squad.
Willie Lyle clocked up well over a hundred senior appearances for four clubs before dropping into the juniors. Peaking at League One level with Stenhousemuir for three seasons.
They also had two Northern Irish youngsters, Aaron Black from Larne and Aidan McVeigh from Glenavon. Black made a significant number of appearances for Ayr United before returning to play for a few Irish League Clubs, with McVeigh returning to Glenavon.
Rangers Youths 
May 25, 2020 at 5:57 pm
Alan Love was an unused sub so didn’t actually play in the final. Both teams only used one sub Kevin Morrison replacing Darryl Duffy for Rangers and John Spence replacing Lee Duncan for Ayr. I also found almost zero information on the player, so never new he was from Northern Ireland.
May 25, 2020 at 2:31 pm
Sorry to tell you that you have a slight mistake in the article. I was at that game as my mate from Northern Ireland Alan Love was signed up with Ayr at the time and he played in the final so Ayr would have had 3 Northern Irish youngsters. I do remember it being a really good game and I met a number of the first team squad at the after match function