Looking back on the inaugural league campaign, the Head of the Academy highlighted the key benefits for the young players as they made the next step in their development. In an exclusive interview with RangersTV, he commented: “We’re trying to expose our players to first-team football as early as we possibly can and the Lowland League has been outstanding in that sense.
“By the end of the season we ended up with twelve graduates that had played in the first team and that wouldn’t have happened if those B team players had been on loan.
“If you watch the interviews with Alex [Lowry], Cole [McKinnon] and Adam [Devine] after they played at Tynecastle, they all reference the Lowland League’s importance.
“The loan model is really important to us as well because players will go on different paths and journeys and we will utilise both strands, but I think that when we reflect on it now, the B team was a massive success.
“We’re one of the first teams in the UK to have a B team and that has been massive for us. There has been a lot of innovation from the people behind the scenes like Creag Robertson and Ross Wilson and it was important for us to push this with the governing bodies.
“Alex and Leon [King] are now called up to the Scotland U21 squad when they are actually U19 players. When you see that progress it is really important and I think a big part of that has been down to our involvement in the Lowland League.”
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Mulholland outlined the benefits of mirroring a compact first-team schedule and emphasised how the variation of tournaments was vital in the progression of the Academy players.
He added: “We did a professional development phase review at the end of the season where we reflected on the programme.
“At the end of the season, the B team played 59 matches and we know that our first team are playing over 60 matches now, so it prepared our lads for the recovery that must happen inbetween and the adjustment to their diet.
“That variety of competition was important and to get to the last 24 of the UEFA Youth League by beating the champions of Sweden and Bulgaria was exceptional for us. The game against Seville was a great experience as well and gives that ‘best v best’ challenge at their own age group.
“Equally, getting to the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup against men after defeating Dumbarton and Alloa was important as well, then the Glasgow Cup where the lads did exceptionally well.
“When you combine the Lowland League and ‘best v best’ games, the research suggests that the variety of competition stimulates learning and I think we can see that in our players.”
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SEASON 22/23 THIRD KIT: Rangers and Castore unveiled next season's third kit which is a sizzling combination of orange, navy and white. Now available online and in The Rangers Stores.
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