DAVID MCCALLUM believes the introduction of a Conference League within Scottish football will ultimately benefit the national side in the long run.
Rangers are one of the key drivers behind the proposal that could see a fifth tier - situated below League Two and above the Highland and Lowland Leagues - implemented to address the development gap of academy players.
The Conference League will be a separate identity to the SPFL and organisers will be free to exploit their own commercial rights, instead of being involved with the top four divisions that are overseen by chief executive Neil Doncaster.
Old Firm rivals Celtic are also behind the blueprint and Aberdeen and Hearts have given their support to a scheme that has been met with widespread anger from clubs across the pyramid.
“Listen, it is difficult for me to say," McCallum, the Rangers B Team manager, said when asked if he could understand the opposition from some clubs. "Every club has got their own opinion on how Scottish football should be run.
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“That is the environment that we are in. What we need at that point is that the ones that will make the decision make it for the greater good of the individual development of our young players.
“And I don’t just mean our young players at Rangers. I am talking about the best talent across this country because that has always got to be a driver.
“If you are a development squad coach or working in academy football, all we want to do is try to give the young players the best journey, the best challenges, stress, some moments that are more comfortable, and give them the best chance to be a top, top individual player that plays for the best team and hopefully our country along the way as well. That will always be a driver for us.”
Premiership clubs will each pay a £100,000 entry fee to the Conference League as they seek to ease the journey from youth team football to their respective first team squads.
The blueprint was drawn up by the Pyramid Working Group and, like the current arrangement with the B Team that McCallum oversees, the Colt sides are not eligible for promotion each season.
McCallum said: “We want our players to be challenged at the best level. That is always going to be our driver because, ultimately, every individual that sits on a programme, we have a responsibility to try and develop them.
“That is our challenge as coaches with the Development Team, the B Team, it is about trying to get the best individual programme.
“Now, whichever games programme that ends up being, as long as it is the one that allows our players to be challenged the most often.
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“Sometimes struggle. Sometimes part of that is being in an environment when you have got to be able to see stressful moments and in games where you are dominant it is a bit different.
“All we are driven by is making sure our players get the best individual and team programme so that they develop and are given the best chance of becoming part of the manager’s squad.”
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