BEER BUZZ CAN BOOST GERS KIDS
GRAEME MURTY insists Myles Beerman is living the dream at Rangers despite suffering a sleepless night following his Old Firm baptism of fire.
The teenager had the thankless task of keeping tabs on Celtic winger Patrick Roberts in Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to the Hoops at Hampden.
Former full-back Murty admitted he felt for the kid but he insisted Beerman’s reaction is the perfect inspiration to his Under-20 side ahead of their Youth Cup Final against Celtic at the National Stadium tomorrow night.
Development coach Murty said: “Myles was tired afterwards but was still wide-eyed. He was reliving every moment over and over again. I would be very surprised if he managed much sleep on Sunday night.
“That’s a good thing. We want players who are excited by those kinds of games.
“Myles is currently doing the things our boys dream of doing. I’ve got no doubt I have a group of players who are inordinately jealous of him and wish to be where he was on Sunday.
“We’ll just use it as a catalyst to say, ‘There you go fellas, change up what you’re doing, stretch yourself, because the opportunities are there’. The manager has already shown he’s not afraid to put young players in.
“Myles is a natural left-back. He’s quick, pacy and deals with the ball really well. There are obviously areas for him to develop.
“But he will develop fastest playing against people like Patrick Roberts. My hamstrings had a twinge of sympathy for Myles when Celtic took Patrick off and put James Forrest on!
“That used to happen to me fairly regularly in my playing career. When you’re dying at 80 minutes the opposition put an absolute whippet on against you.
“Myles will have to get used to it. When he manages to come down off the ceiling he’ll look at playing against someone like Patrick, the pace and technical ability he has, and he will never have experienced that before.
“I can’t buy that experience for him and it’s something he has to use in his career going forward.”
Murty – who enjoyed his stint as first-team caretaker boss – is looking for his young guns to follow Beerman and David Bates into the senior ranks.
He said: “Hopefully the game on Wednesday will be a small taste of it as well and make our guys hungry for more.
“We’re looking at their growth and development. They have exceeded our aspirations for them this year but as I’ve told them, this is a game against Celtic. I shouldn’t have to motivate them.
“They should be desperate to win it and I am sure they will be.”
Murty is the only Rangers boss to get a result against Celtic this season but admitted his Celtic Park blueprint is not called for in the Youth Cup showdown.
He said: “It’s a different set of circumstances.
“The game plan will be fitted to what we want to try to do while recognising they have talented players and minimising their impact on the game.
“It’s not about this Wednesday or Saturday, it’s a two or three-year thing. We will support them all the way through it but this is a really good stepping stone in the journey.”