THE father of a Scotland age group goalkeeper says he fears his son could be put out of senior football next season because of Club Academy Scotland rules.
Josh Donaldson, from Cardenden in Fife, was 14 last September when he and his father, Scott, signed a one-year registration form with Rangers. He joined the Ibrox club from Hearts, having previously been at East Fife and Dunfermline. According to the parent, it was Rangers' third attempt to sign him.
The young goalkeeper played for the Rangers under-15 side last season and also for Scotland at the same level. He was man-of-the-match on his debut against Switzerland at Forthbank, and went on to play six games, including two in Qatar. The most recent was an away game against Poland in June.
Had all gone according to plan, Josh would have returned to train with the Rangers under-16 side this week, while continuing to contend for a Scotland place at the higher age level. Instead, the player and father have informed Rangers that they are leaving.
Explaining the circumstances, Scott Donaldson said: "Josh and I had a meeting with the Rangers head of youth, Craig Mulholland, and goalkeeping coach Jim Stewart, to discuss plans for next season.
"In addition to midweek commitments they wanted us to travel from Fife for under-16 fixtures in the Glasgow League on Saturdays, and for Josh to sit on bench for the under-17s on Sundays. I am unemployed and a single parent, and I just can't do it. It's too expensive. Josh's grandparents are already subsidising his travel.
"Even last season we realised it was too much. I was having to pick Josh up in the afternoons at his school in Lochgelly and drive him to the Forth Road Bridge where he would join a Rangers minibus heading for Murray Park.
"Josh would change in the car, and eat his dinner in the car too. Then it was a 90 minute journey via Stirling in the minibus, an hour and a half training at Murray Park, and another 90 minute journey back to the Forth Road Bridge, where I would pick him up and take him home. There were also times when we had to drive to Ibrox and Murray Park for meetings and suchlike.
"Josh was always really tired, and there was no time for homework. I have to be honest and say his schoolwork suffered - Rangers had him on release from school one day a week and they put him up in Milngavie on Wednesday nights so he could train at Murray Park all day on Thursday.
"My other son, Niall, has just completed his first year in medicine at Dundee University, which has made me very proud. With Josh we have put all our eggs in one basket and that has been football. He has a small chance of making it, but we are both realistic enough to know that it's not any more than that."
Others might have a different view. "Josh has had trials at Manchester United and Everton, and Leicester had him down last summer," the father said. "They wanted to sign him at 14, but they wouldn't move me down and I thought he was too young to go himself."
Donaldson Snr, as it happens, is a Rangers supporter. He says neither that, nor the fact Rangers are one of only two CAS members with a six-star gold rating, can persuade him that it is in his son's best interests to stay at the club.
"He is going into fourth year at school after the summer holidays and it will be a massive year academically, so that's another thing I'm worried about," Donaldson said. "We both want him to be playing for a club much closer to home, so that the travelling will be manageable.
"When we told Rangers we couldn't commit for another season the question of compensation came up and we were told the club would ask for £12,500 compensation from any other academy club who wanted to sign Josh. Nobody in our area could afford that, so a Scotland goalkeeper could be put out of the game.
"We don't want to move to a better club. I just want what is best for Josh."
Mulholland, who replaced Jimmy Sinclair as head of youth at Murray Park last year, says he doesn't recognise Scott Donaldson's reason for Josh not returning to Rangers.
"I can honestly say that was never, ever mentioned to us," he said. "The issue was always about playing time (for the under-17 team) next season.
"Scott asked me what the level of compensation would be. I told him £12,500, but that was merely a statement of what we might have been due under the rules. I made it clear that night to Scott, and subsequently in a number of texts, that we wouldn't be looking for anywhere near that level of compensation.
"We want to assist Josh and make his transition to another club as smooth as possible. Our stance is this: there are obviously rules in place and if you look at what the club has invested in him in the last year I think the club, from a business perspective, is entitled to some kind of recompense.
"He's a good goalkeeper, and we're desperately keen to keep him. What we're not going to do is stop a young boy from playing somewhere else."
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