Opposition Youth Players Part One

A few people have suggested a post on the best opposition youth players I have seen playing against Rangers. It is something I have thought about for a while but its not straightforward for a number of reasons.

For CAS fixtures from U13’s through to U16’s the team lineups are difficult to come by. I “learn” the Rangers squads through watching the games usually with the help of one or two parents. Opposition players may become known when Rangers, Celtic or both are trying to sign them. Or when Scotland gatherings are announced, although this is not the be all and end all as there is a bit of politics involved in these selections.

Another problem is I almost exclusively watch Rangers teams, so apart from the odd youth International I only see opposition players around twice a season. I also may only have identified them from around the age of fifteen or sixteen.

Having had a wee look I also think I may have an unconscious bias towards former Rangers academy players. I tend to have seen more of them and I also feel there was a period where we made quite a few mistakes in releasing players. Also maybe a wee bit biased to those that became Rangers players later on.

The economics of Scottish football mean Rangers and Celtic generally have the strongest squads at most age groups and are always looking to pillage the rest. Other clubs can hit a high spot and produce a good group and at other times a “hidden game” can be difficult to spot in a poor group playing against Rangers.

In addition I am trying to write about these players as I saw them as “youth players” and not the player they have become. The way I have decided to approach this is to look at each club and split players into my top rated, ones I thought would make the first team, maybe some where I didn’t see the hype and a few that came maybe under the radar.

The youth league started in 1993/1994 season prior to that games were few and far between. Games at younger age groups were always difficult to get location and kick-off times before the training ground opened.

Aberdeen:- Aberdeen have had a few top youth players over the years and I would put four in that category. Two from a while back who didn’t quite fulfil their potential and two who are making there way in the game.

Fraser Fyvie and Jack Grimmer were a year apart but as youth players they were as good as any player in the country.

Fyvie’s one substitute appearance in the Premiership for Wigan against Aston Villa was the peak of his career. He has suffered a few injuries over the years and now at 27 years old find himself at Cove Rangers. He gained eight Scotland Under 21 caps.

Jack Grimmer had only played a handful of games when he moved to Fulham at 18. His career didn’t quite take off in London but he did make thirteen Championship appearances. Still only 26 and now on the books of Wycombe Wanderers. A solitary U21 cap is the peak of his Scotland career.

Billy Gilmour was far and away the best player in the country in the 2001 group, but Aberdeen had two midfield players that were at the level below, Dean Campbell and Terry Taylor. Campbell has already made close to forty top team appearances while Taylor chose to make a move south and signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers at 16. He made his first team debut as a sub in this season’s League Cup against Aston Villa.

There are quite a few in the second category and some have achieved more than others. Our own Ryan Jack, Peter Pawlett, Nicky Low, Elvis Costello Declan McManus and Daniel Harvey to name a few. The biggest disappointment would be Craig Storrie who I think is now out of senior football at 24.

I’ve never really seen the hype on Scott McKenna and still don’t. A young player who I was surprised when Celtic paid a significant development fee for is Christian Antonazzi. He returned to Aberdeen after a year and is still there now aged 20, was on loan at Cove Rangers recently.

Ryan Fraser has to be the one that got under the radar, for most of his youth career his was playing full-back. It was then thought he was too small for that role and his career really took off when he moved further forward. By that time he was in the final six months of his contact and moved to Bournemouth, who were in League One at the time for £400,000.

Aberdeen have a few really good players in various age groups at the moment.

Celtic:- No doubt some people might not me saying this but this would be the biggest group. I could have listed a few more Aberdeen players and this list with be significantly edited.

I’ve picked three based on their performances against at youth level that would suggest they would be top players. Shay Given, James Forrest and Kieran Tierney.

When Shay Given was at Celtic, Rangers were miles ahead at youth level and was a few games where he really did keep the score down. I believe Celtic lost him to Blackburn because he was only on a YTS contract.

Forrest always gave our teams problems and we found it difficult to cope with him at times. He was a significant player any time I seen him.

Tierney had a few injury problems as a young players but when he was fit you could see if he overcame these issues he would be a top player.

I thought about Callum McGregor for the previous group but in my opinion he developed a bit later,. Through the academy age groups he was a very good player but not quite at the level where he really influenced games the way he does today.

Some of the players I thought were very effective at various youth groups against Rangers are as follows. Steven Boyd, Tony Ralston, Liam Henderson, Jamie Lindsay, Michael Tidser, Cillian Sheridan, Paul George, Marcus Fraser and Michael Johnston. I was very surprised when they didn’t offer David Wotherspoon a pro contract and he moved to Hibs.

Didn’t quite join the Islam Feruz hype, he had obvious talent but equally obvious issues that would have to be over come. I saw him around ten times, man of the match twice, red carded twice, two strops for being substituted playing for Scotland. The other has just been released by Celtic is Calvin Miller, didn’t see what others were seeing there. Played for Rangers SABC and I believe was briefly at Rangers at a very young age.

My under the radar choice I have gone for Stephen McManus, Celtic have always seemed to go for a particular type of centre back. And as a youth player i felt when Stephen got the ball I knew we would get it back. I was really surprised when he broke into Celtic’s first team but it’s a credit to him and who ever was coaching him that he became a really good defender for club and country. He also comes across as a genuine guy.

When I started this post I didn’t realise it would be so long, so I will spilt it over a few post and look at a couple of clubs on each post. It is really just my opinion and everyone would see all these players mentioned differently.