RANGERS’ new-look ‘B-Team’ are back putting in the hard work ahead of their inaugural season under the watchful eye of coaches Brian Gilmour and Kevin Thomson.
The duo were appointed over the summer as part of a restructure of the Academy, with Rangers determined to continue to lead the way when it comes to youth development in Scotland.
Of course, the club have made no secret of their ambition to someday have a B Team in the SPFL set-up given the fantastic benefits that will bring the young players, and this move to this new squad is the first step in that.
Indeed, Gilmour and Thomson’s team will closely mirror the work of the Rangers first-team, and be tested at every opportunity to give the players the best possible opportunity of making Steven Gerrard’s first-team.
Gilmour and Thomson took time out of their busy schedule this week for an extensive Q&A on their new role you can see now on RangersTV.
They began by discussing how their own skills will complement each other, with Gilmour firstly explaining: "Kevin and I have worked together before, and I think we have bits in which we are similar, and there are some of Kevin's strengths where I would look to improve.
"I feel for as much as we are with the players and trying to get it across to the players, there is also that bit between us as a duo that I am certainly enjoying and we speak a lot about the man-management side of it.
"He is very good at that and he has played at the top level and understands that relationship that we are starting to form with the group, and between us, it is a positive thing for me.
Thomson, himself, of course, a former Rangers first-teamer continued: "I'm a big personality, aren't I!? I've got big character and big opinions, and sometimes I maybe overstep the mark at times, and I think that's maybe why Craig [Mulholland] put us together.
"Brian's detail and understanding of what he is trying to achieve tactically is meticulous and I like to think I am a bit more of a bruiser, a demander and a motivator.
"I think to get a successful partnership, you need to be quite different. I think our personalities are different - I don't think 'good cop-bad cop' works anymore, though i like to think we are both good at being both.
"But I think the closer the boys are gravitating towards the first team, we are going to mirror for the first time what the first-team do in a 'B Team', so probably the harder hand is more suited to myself than Brian, and the detail on the training pitch day to day is Brian's bag.
"So hopefully the contrast of a bit of both will hopefully create a good environment for the boys to learn in and push on.
"Ultimately, when you get to the B Team, it's your last step - it is either one where you fall by the wayside or you have the personality or the character to hopefully get under the manager's nose."
It will be an extremely young group of players involved in the B Team this year, with 83 per-cent being under-19.
Many of their challenges will be against men’s first-teams, and Thomson outlined how such matches will be handled.
He said: "There will be no excuse on my front. We cannot preach that we want to stretch the players, challenge them and really make them struggle to then make excuses that we have young players.
"I'll never hide away from that. Internally, we need to support them - which we do - and there will be times where it is tough. There will be times when centre-backs play against big, bruising centre-forwards and they get bullied a bit, but that is part and parcel of being a Rangers player.
"I think you need to get into the deep end, you need to learn how to swim and if you sink, going and having a career somewhere else might be great, but the harsh reality is you need to be able to swim if you want to succeed at this club.
"When it comes to that challenge, I don't want to be standing on the sidelines watching us beat X, Y or Z 7,8 or 9-0 - it's irrelevant for me. I want to see the boys struggle and I want to see them challenged, and if we can try to put that into a games programme as much as possible, it will give us half a chance of putting players under the manager's nose."
Rangers have made no secret in recent times of their desire to have a B-Team in Scottish league football, and both Gilmour and Thomson have thrown their weight completely behind that ambition.
Gilmour added: "I think it is definitely the next step for these players to ultimately try and mirror [the first-team], to some capacity.
"There are some things we can start to put in place, and we will have different challenges this year. We have had a few games against first-teams and the boys are well aware of what that looks like.
"Of course, it is not going to be the standard of the Scottish Premiership, but it is a challenge that I and the club both feel we need to go in.
"It is the next step, and we have already spoken about the age of the players - getting younger players going and competing in these leagues to ultimately go and try to challenge in that pyramid system as high as we possibly can."
You can watch an extensive interview with Gilmour and Thomson on RangersTV now, and read an in-depth Q&A with them in tomorrow’s match programme.
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