Ally McCoist believes Rangers are a completely different proposition nowadays as they now appear to hand young home-grown talent first-team opportunities.
The former Gers striker heaped praise on David Bates and Ross McCrorie for their performances this season and shared that they should both be setting their sights on making it into Alex McLeish’s plans for Scotland.
“Those games (friendlies v Peru and Mexico) are 100 per cent an opportunity for players,” said McCoist, as quoted by the Scottish Sun.
“Those two games, more than anything, will be an opportunity to have a look at some younger boys.
“McCrorie has been outstanding from Rangers’ point of view and Bates was excellent when he came on at Celtic Park, then he got the injury in the game at Ibrox.
“Nowadays Rangers are a completely different proposition to go to, they’re back in an arena where young home-grown talent will look at the club and say ‘I’ll go there and get a chance’, and if they do well, every kid wants to play for their country.”
Bates, 21, featured 17 times across all competitions for the Gers this season before getting injured, while McCrorie, 19, has made a grand of 19 appearances during this campaign so far.
OPINION
McCoist is right to draw attention to the fact Rangers are actually giving their youth players opportunities this season. This has been one of the most positive aspects of this campaign, as young talent has taken centre stage at Ibrox. Several talented home-grown players currently in the Gers’ youth system will now have hope that they too can break into Graeme Murty’s first-team. This could see them raise their game in order to reach the senior squad sooner rather than later. Also with young players getting opportunities to feature, it could lead to the Gers being able to attract talented youth players ahead of other clubs. This could all mean that the Gers are set to have a bright future.