21 May 2026 14:20:17
If your good enough, you are old enough.
The old football adage that plenty quote but what does it really mean?
You can't always go on ability.
Somebody like Rooney was a highly talented 16-year-old in a man's body. Plying his trade at the highest level from an early age.
Messi was a generational talent in a wee frame.
Rangers over the years have been littered with the next big thing.
Souness branded Sandy Robertson the best young player in Britain in 1988.
In the following 6 seasons he made 26 appearances.
In 1986, a 19-year-old Derek Ferguson was earning rave reviews in the Rangers midfield alongside a 20-year-old Durrant.
After a strained relationship with Souness, he managed 100+ appearances in 6 seasons before leaving.
We then had Charlie Miller in 90's, another talent who for a variety of reasons never lived up to the hype.
We had Barry Ferguson, probably the most talented and most successful of "one of our own" in recent years.
Fast forward to the present and we are all desperate for one of our young players to be a smash hit.
And this is where the problems arise.
No true pathway to 1st team football except for the odd appearance here and there on the bench.
And to be fair, Findlay Curtis is one of the first in years who's went out on loan to a club in the SPFL Premiership. Most have went Championship or lower.
And who has played regularly and been a success where he has forced himself into the Scotland WC squad.
More knowledgeable than me will know what the correct path for his development should be.
But I would love to see him in and around the first team next season.
He can't be any worse than a couple of the current incumbents.
£8 million on an Olsen – hoping he regains past form – or one of our own doing the business?
21 May 2026 15:16:06
Slight aside, but loosely connected to your post.
Messi was born into more than a wee frame, he was actually born with a growth hormone deficiency, and without medical intervention, was estimated to grow to substantially under 5 foot.
The story behind the funding of his growth hormone injections and his pathway to Barcelona is fascinating.
21 May 2026 15:23:40
Another good post.
Only thing I would add is that you need to sacrifice output at times in order to develop a young player.
They are going to be inconsistent and often lack the end product during games. I think Curtis has excellent potential who does show really good end product, especially for his age and experience. But he will still be inconsistent in applying his ability.
This is why I was so annoyed with Mm signing.
I feel we have sacrificed the game time in order to develop him and got very little in return, because he was never going to show the levels of consistency needed for a Rangers player.
I just wish that sacrifice was made for Curtis rather than someone else's player. I am also a bigger fan of Curtis than Moore because I feel the end product is the hard bit, not a bit of skill leading to an end product.
21 May 2026 15:32:04
Great post, Mph. In Scotland, the poor development of players goes right back to grassroots. Parents pushing their own kids because they are coaches, and other better ones miss out and fall away. I see this happen quite a lot in what I do, and it really does annoy me.
21 May 2026 16:06:45
Please don't mention Charlie Miller. Could have been another Barry Ferguson at least.
21 May 2026 16:32:17
Charlie Miller wrong team at wrong time, if that boy had trained away from the bevvy he could easily have gone on to bigger things. Derek Ferguson gave heart and soul when he played, but if you fall foul of the manager and that guy is Souness, well it's game over.
Trouble is a lot of young guys can't handle stardom and big money. We already have Cameron from Dundee, good player, needs to knuckle down.
21 May 2026 16:55:03
Charlie Miller was an extremely talented midfielder and it's so sad it was a wasted talent. ☹️ Charlie had the natural ability to be the best of the lot maybe with the exception of the immense Ian Durrant. ???
21 May 2026 16:45:31
Heard that before EHL ( sure Ed001 has mentioned it in the past ).
Though I've never actually read anything about it.
21 May 2026 17:40:07
There is a pathway for younger players out with the OF. Problem is, it's a numbers game. Sco don't have enough registered football teams in total throughout every age range, therefore don't produce enough high quality players. It's one of the main factors in producing talent in a multifactorial statistical study. Countries with large participation and many football clubs produce talent.
21 May 2026 18:14:09
If he returns to Scotland, he will be a squad player next year. Same will be true with Scotland in the Summer. Curtis isn't starting any games for Scotland. He will be used as an impact player - if at all.
Probably be best if he goes out again next year, hopefully to a top 6 team and gets regular minutes again.
Then bring him back when he's a starter.
Similar to what Celtic did with Ajer or Christie (although I appreciate he was nearly out the door).
21 May 2026 18:35:19
Zikos, give young Findlay Curtis some credit for god's sake. ? It's absolutely brilliant that he's been actually picked to go with his country to go to the World Cup. ? Superb achievement for the young man. ?
21 May 2026 18:36:15
Zikos, but he will learn lots just being there, even if he gets no minutes. Training with players of ability of McGinn, Golmour and McTominay is perfect for a young lad. If club decide he needs another loan next season, then fine by me.
We want him to be here, starting and playing well as young players at the club are given no time at us, especially if we aren't winning.
21 May 2026 23:21:30
SWS and Angus, I'm not criticising the lad one bit. He was a breath of fresh air any time he got on at Tangers and kicked in again at Kilmarnock.
He had done well to get into the Scotland squad. However, I personally think that's more to do with us as a nation not having any wingers.
And I could see another manager give him a chance, but think Clarke is too cautious in that regard.
I want to see him develop as much as possible, and for that to happen he needs to play as much as possible, and think that might be elsewhere for the time being. If he stays with us next season I can see him being used off the bench more often than not.