adminRangers are now watching Craig Mulholland explain to the rest of Scottish football where they have been getting things wrong.
The Scottish FA’s chief football officer was previously head of the academy at Ibrox.
During the 56-year-old’s spell at the Light Blues, there were very few standout academy graduates emerging from Auchenhowie.
Mulholland is now attempting to help young Scottish players progress following his own time at Ibrox.
The SFA are suggesting financial rewards and potential punishments to encourage more homegrown talents to play for their clubs.
Specific quotas could be introduced to ensure more Under-21 players feature in domestic competitions, although those currently in Govan may question whether Mulholland is the right man for the task.
Craig Mulholland’s Rangers legacy assessed
Mulholland spent roughly 20 years at Rangers in a variety of roles and ran the academy for eight of those years before departing in 2023.
During that period, the Gers did develop players such as Nathan Patterson and Billy Gilmour, although the latter never made a first-team appearance and both eventually moved to clubs south of the border.
Rory Wilson is another example of a promising youngster who ultimately joined Aston Villa in 2022.
Ross McCrorie is arguably the only player who successfully established himself in the first team and earned regular game time, but that is arguably the extent of Mulholland’s legacy at Ibrox.
Writing in the Daily Record on 7 September, Keith Jackson said, “And now Mulholland has arrived on the scene telling the rest of the game where they have been going wrong and what they need to do in order to rectify it.
“It’s hard to know where to start with this anomaly, but suffice to say there are senior, highly experienced, dyed-in-the-wool football men around Rangers who can’t quite believe what they are seeing and hearing and asking how it has possibly come to this.”
How Craig Mulholland’s recommendations could impact Ibrox
Findlay Curtis has a promising Rangers future ahead of him after making his breakthrough into the first team last season.
The 20-year-old is already a Scotland international and could develop into one of the most successful academy graduates at the Gers in recent years.
Speaking recently, Mulholland said, “We would always love to do more, but we believe that introducing requirements for Under-21 players in the Scottish Cup and League Cup and targets for minutes in the Premiership would represent a significant step.”
One of the recommendations involves requiring two Under-21 Scotland-eligible players to start every Scottish Cup and Premier Sports Cup fixture.
Derek McInnes has not necessarily shown a willingness to hand opportunities to younger players during his time at the Glasgow outfit so far.
While Curtis has played a prominent role this season, there do not appear to be many other academy graduates on the verge of breaking into the first team anytime soon.
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