THE name Hawke reverberates around Cappielow once again.

Not only is Warren Hawke, the former Morton striker and PFA Scotland commercial officer, acting as a consultant to the club as it relaunches its youth academy, his own son Lewis has emerged as a poster boy for this brave new generation.

Hawke jnr, an 18-year-old striker, swooped to score his first goal for the club in the final game of last season. And, with 17-year-old Alan Frizzell also making his debut for Allan Moore's first team that day, it was as timely a signal as any that chairman Douglas Rae is awakening to the fact that, much like Hamilton Academical and Falkirk before them, the future resides in developing local youth.

Some might suggest this should have been done much earlier – the club has been out of the top flight for 24 years while Kilmarnock's Gary Harkins, St Johnstone's Chris Millar and Dundee United new boy Mark Millar are just three kids from Inverclyde to make it to the Clydesdale Bank Premier League. Yet Rae can hardly be accused of doing things on the cheap.

The club will sustain youth teams at under-13, under-14, under-16, and under-17 level next season in addition to fielding a young reserve side which, initially at least, will play against their Scottish Football League rivals – minus the lucky few such as Falkirk, who have been invited to join the new SPL under-20 league. The reserves will be under the control of Jonatan Johansson, the former Rangers striker and Finland internationalist, and former Morton player David Hopkin, with access to specialist sports science, physiotherapy and nutrition advice.

While Hawke looks after the balance sheet, and helps to attract sponsors such as Danshell/Newark Care Home, there will be three coaches for every age group, with the academy as a whole being run by Derek Anderson, the former Morton defender.

"It is a huge change of direction from the board and a fantastic change," Hawke told Herald Sport. "To say that the club is getting serious about the youth policy is a bit of an understatement. We have now got everything in place to really make a go of the youth academy and we are going to do everything from the club's point of view to support such a fantastic local hotbed of talent. Too often local players have had to disappear to the other professional clubs to seek the best coaching but we are now going to be doing it on our own doorstep."

Durham-born Hawke, an unused Sunderland sub in the 1992 FA Cup final defeat by Liverpool, went on to make in excess of 200 appearances in two spells in Greenock, and confessed to getting a bit teary when his son got on the scoresheet at the tail end of the previous campaign. "I was quite emotional when Lewis scored, because it was one of my goals – a backpost header," the 41-year-old said. "It is a fantastic time to be associated with Morton. We have got proof there to parents that young players will get used in first-team squads and get a chance to develop from a very early stage. If your boy is good enough he will get his chance.

"The manager has bought into the youth academies and the reserves as much as myself and Derek. I have got a affinity with the place, hence the reason I am back there now and doing a little bit of work for them."

Most youngsters were signed up earlier this summer, with Hawke hoping to provide a "conveyor belt" of local talents for the first team, not to mention finding a few gems who could be sold on to fund the club in future years. "It will all be under the umbrella of Greenock Morton Football Club," he said. "But the youth academy will be a stand alone account, fully accountable to itself. If we manage to sell players somewhere down the line it needs to be in the best interest of the player and the club.

"But we are not developing the project to sell on the players. We have to be supporting the first-team manager Allan Moore as much as possible. It is our long-term goal, and we are talking maybe five or six years away, that we could have double figures of local young talent being the foundation for the squad."

The youth academy is merely the first strand of Hawke's consultancy work. "I have been heavily involved with the set up, the design process, the recruitment process, the ordering of kit, and have supported Derek as much as possible," he added. "The next step is a fully functional community programme, embracing the community and helping people with social issues."

The chance remains that youngsters could be picked off by bigger fish before they reach the under-13 age group but Hawke feels they would be better served by staying put. "Hopefully players like this will decide to stick with the fantastic boys clubs in the area up until the age of 13," he said. "When you look at the standard of player we have managed to get on board at the under-13 and 14 level I have to sing the praises to the local boys clubs."