Craig Mulholland On How the Academy Has Adapted and Reacted To Recent Challenges

ADAPTING and reacting to the challenges thrown up by the Coronavirus pandemic has been key for Rangers Academy over the last 10 months.

From online webinars, masterclasses and sport science programmes to supporting the mental health of young players, it has all been covered as the Academy navigates through the situation.

This week, Head of Academy Craig Mulholland spoke exclusively to RangersTV to discuss a range of topics.

He said: “I must say our staff have been tremendous but also our young players. Some of the feedback we have had from the players and the parents has been absolutely terrific.

“We have had online live sessions, masterclasses, game model webinars, sport science programmes and really importantly each young player gets a call from a member of Rangers staff once a week.

“Hopefully through what has been an incredibly difficult time for everybody Rangers have been able to help and these young players will come back to the training ground and still have learned a lot and be in good nick ready to start again.”

With the B-Team currently unable to play games, a number of players from that squad have gone out on loan with 10 playing across the top two divisions in Scotland.

Mulholland continued: “I think one of the things we have been proudest of is how reactive we have been to the changing situation.

“When you look at the upcoming second half of the season we have now got a situation where probably there won’t be as much B-Team football so what we have done is we have now got over 14 players out on loan, with 10 over the top two divisions in Scotland.

“Hopefully that is a mark of the strides we are making that we can get players in the top two divisions. We want to make sure that our young players are in an environment where they are most likely to play football.

“The under-18s on the other hand should hopefully have a lot of fixtures when football starts back to catch up and play a full league programme.

“For the likes of Brian Gilmour and Kevin Thomson who were taking their first year with the B-Team they couldn't have had a more challenging year to start that programme.

“It is quite different but the way those guys have adjusted to now looking at individual player development rather than team development has been terrific.

“We are reacting positively and producing something that means our young players are still continuing to develop in a really positive way.

“I think we are on record quite often aspiring for a B-Team in the lower leagues of Scottish football and that is still something we would love to achieve but what we must do in the interim is find a way of achieving that bridge from the Academy to the First-Team.

“For some that might be like Nathan Patterson where you go straight to the First-Team but for others that will require getting minutes of football and loans.

“We are watching all of our players very closely but really importantly you are now seeing young Rangers players excelling while on loan.”

With a number of new contracts announced recently, Mulholland said it is important to hold on to the best young talent at the club.

He continued: “There is a change of market in the UK at the moment because of the Brexit situation and the demand for young players from Great Britain will become even greater from England and across the UK.

“From our point of view to hold on to three or four exciting young talents is excellent for us.

“During this window we will also make some decisions on players who will maybe see their future elsewhere.

“I think what is important for us as a player trading model is that we start to get something back on some of those lads as they leave the building.

“It is fundamental that we hang on to our best talent and we are delighted but we will see some players move on from the club and it is a decision we think is right for their development as well.

Mulholland ended with a word on the UEFA Youth League, as Rangers were drawn at home to FC Cologne in the round of 64.

He concluded: “As we have mentioned the under-18s will run a really robust programme but one of the key decisions we had to make was prioritising player development over the performance of our teams.

“At the moment we believe the UEFA Youth League will run, that is an under-19/20 competition however, what we have decided to do is enter that competition with pretty much an under-18 team.

“That will be an exceptional challenge for them and it will be an exceptional challenge for the coaches but we want player challenge.

“The lads out on loan are getting 15/20 games which is more beneficial for their careers as opposed to keeping them back for what might be one or two games.

“What it will do is create a wonderful challenge for our young players who will get a chance to play in the UEFA Youth League.”