04 Aug 2026 17:04:26
David McCallum leaving academy set up, to be temporary replaced by Brian Gilmour.
04 Aug 2026 17:18:08
Is this good or bad, John?
04 Aug 2026 17:18:49
You're not a fan, are you, John?
04 Aug 2026 17:43:26
Good. They need a permanent appointment, but good Davie is away.
04 Aug 2026 17:58:59
Probably needed a change. I watched the U18 Academy team at the Super Cup NI last week, and, boy, were they awful. They were absolutely terrible, and I couldn't help but think, well, if this is the quality of player we have coming through the academy, then God help us! They had 2 Central Defenders who hadn't a clue how to play football, never mind defend!
04 Aug 2026 19:28:37
I'd say good news, however, I'm not a Brian Gilmore fan either, so in my opinion someone will need to be permanent soon.
04 Aug 2026 19:37:45
Ehl might be able to give a better reply, however, in my opinion, both have not delivered.
04 Aug 2026 20:10:54
John, totally agree. It's a position that's needed to be looked at for a long time. Hopefully the club can think outside the box on this. Maybe someone with a Scandinavian background, they've had so much success in that region at bringing players through in the last few years.
04 Aug 2026 20:35:10
Permanent appointment for that role is currently working his notice at another club.
04 Aug 2026 20:43:55
It's a difficult one to judge.
From the outside, the youth system has been an obvious failure and has been on a steady decline for a number of years.
But for a long time, it was tasked to be nothing more than a profit centre, which it achieved.
04 Aug 2026 21:01:23
Thanks for reply, Ehl.
Also, Copland 5. Good info.
04 Aug 2026 22:12:44
Copland 5, r u picking up a major lever from the board FT?
04 Aug 2026 22:17:45
We have had good people working there in the past. At one point we hired the guy from Ajax who developed several world class talents abroad. It just never seems to work out, and I suspect it's because we don't give the youth enough game time, and they are written off too quickly.
Curtis is the most promising youngster we've had in years, and many would agree the best place for him to develop is away from Ibrox. It seems the only way to break through is to go from youth team to first-team regular instantly, and that's almost never going to happen.
05 Aug 2026 00:23:26
No, John, not heard anything regarding one leaving.
I know that Marathe is heavily involved with Cavenagh & Gillespie in trying to get those who don't contribute behind the scenes out the club.
05 Aug 2026 08:48:54
Copeland do you have any info of wether we will go back in for ghedjemis the Algerian winger?