STEWART ROBERTSON has revealed his frustration at Scottish football’s governing bodies for the lack of progress made on proposals to introduce colt teams to the lower leagues.
Speaking on Rangers TV, the managing director questioned why a paper compiled by the Ibrox club following consultations with all but three SPFL teams had not been widely circulated by the SFA and the SPFL.
The Premiership champions, alongside rivals Celtic, are currently involved in discussions that would see colt teams introduced into next season’s Lowland League, the fifth tier of Scottish football, for a solitary campaign.
The Old Firm have tried and failed in the past to garner support for the creation of B teams towards the lower end of the SPFL pyramid. Representatives from each Lowland League team and Celtic and Rangers will meet on Monday to formally discuss the proposal – with Robertson admitting that the inaction within the professional set-up left him feeling exasperated.
“There’s been a lot said over the last few months about B teams that has been false – it’s been nonsense, frankly,” he said. “We’ve been frustrated at the lack of a transition pathway for our young players. This is something we spent a lot of time on. After all the nonsense that happened last summer with the end of the league, we undertook to consult with every club in the SPFL.
Rangers Managing Director, Sporting Director and Head of Academy provide an update on our desire to enter a B team into the Lowland League. pic.twitter.com/slyKylxKlL
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) May 6, 2021
READ MORE: Celtic and Rangers enter talks with Lowland League over colt team entry next season
“Only three clubs didn’t meet us and they were lower league clubs. We had good discussions and managed to get around every single club apart from those three just to understand what their frustrations are with the game at the moment: what would they like to see change?
“We presented them with a paper which talked about various things that we could do to make the game better. That’s what it was all about: how to make the game better and improving player development. How can Scottish football have better players?
“Part of that is B teams so that we’re in control of our players’ own destiny and it’s not the case that we’re lending our players to 10, 12, 14 different clubs – as we’ve had to do this season.
“That’s worked for us but we realised that it’s not a one-size-fits-all model and that other clubs would work better in other ways. It was Iain McMenemy at Stenhousemuir who came up with the idea of strategic partnerships. They’ve had one with Hibs this season and it seems to have worked very well.
“We looked at that and had talks with the other clubs, and there were some great suggestions. We then re-wrote the paper – Craig [Mulholland] and Ross [Wilson] re-wrote it and presented it as a proposal.
“We felt with everything that happened as a result of Covid that this would be a great time to change the game and come out of Covid on the front foot. Let’s go and really make a change that would improve the quality of players that Scottish football was developing.
READ MORE: Lowland League boss gives backing to Rangers and Celtic Colts team proposal
“We hit frustration after frustration after frustration with that process. It went through the SPFL board and was approved, then it went to the SFA board and slowed down. We were told they wanted it implemented for next year. We knew there would still be a vote, we knew there would have to be presentations made to each club.
“But my biggest frustration was that after working on that project for a year, the paper has still never been sent to the clubs. The SPFL clubs have still never been presented with that paper despite us saying ‘let’s make it a SFA idea, let’s make it a SPFL idea. Let’s not make it a Rangers or Celtic idea. Let’s get it out there and let the clubs see it’.
“It’s not been given to the clubs and you need to ask why the SFA and the SPFL haven’t sent it to clubs.”
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