BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE ...JUST LIKE BROONY
Thommo seeks to inspire kids
KEVIN THOMSON wants to help breed a new generation of Rangers players with an attitude best typified by Celtic skipper Scott Brown.
The ex-Ibrox midfielder already runs a successful academy at Craiglockhart in Edinburgh but last month took on the responsibility of leading Gers’ Under-13s.
It shows a refreshing lack of ego and desire to educate kids from a player who won two titles, three cup winners’ medals and played in a UEFA Cup Final during three years under Walter Smith.
Thomson, still just 33, saw his career curtailed by injury but is determined to help a new crop deliver on their potential.
Especially after admitting he only started working hard when he won his £2million move to Ibrox from Hibs.
He has even taken to playfully chiding first-team stars such as Jason Cummings to do all they can to wring out every ounce of their talent just like his close pal Brown.
Thomson said: “The first time I saw Jason when he signed was in the car park at 2pm with Jason Holt. I said to them, ‘It’s two o’clock, where are you going? You should be in there practising.’
“He said, ‘I’ve got a game tomorrow Uncle T.’ I still told him he should be back in there getting better.
“I told him this is an amazing club and over these next six months he should be as selfish as possible – which he is – to showcase his talents and hopefully be here long term. That is what I’d say to everybody.
“Look at Scotty across the pond – he is selfish, he wants to keep on playing, he doesn’t want to rest on his laurels. That is the nature of the beast we want to try to create.
“I was lucky Walter told me being OK at this club wasn’t good enough. Sadly I thought I was doing all right but all right wasn’t enough when you had boys such as Davie Weir, Lee McCulloch, Barry Ferguson and big Ugo Ehiogu, rest his soul.
“I still remember Baz barking at me when I didn’t pass the ball to him in the first session. We also had the younger generation who all had the bit between their teeth and wanted to knock the older ones off their perch.
“It was just a great environment to be the best you can be. There was an edge to training every day because Walter wouldn’t accept anything less.”
Thomson is working seven days a week to impart his knowledge to youngsters.
His academy welcomes kids of all ages and abilities and most will go on to become recreational footballers, which suits him just fine.
But the emphasis on his work with the Rangers Under-13s at Auchenhowie is on creating players who can fulfil a talent they have shown from such a young age.
He said: “I probably never started being really selfish and narrow-minded until I joined Rangers. When I was at Hibs it probably all came a bit too easy for me.
“I don’t want players of this generation to be the ones who start working hard only when it’s too late. Fortunately I made it without doing the hard work to start with but I want them to do it before they get there. Hopefully that creates better players and an environment for each of them to push each other on.
“A lot of them will fall short but I would hate for them to fall short because they failed to grasp they need to work really hard.
“If you had asked me at the age of 27 if I would work with kids I would have said no. But I changed my mind within one session of working with Lee Makel at Hibs.
“I always tell parents that to be a football player their children need to be hard-working, respectful and the best they can be. I’m trying to instil that in every kid who comes into my care.
“I saw a youth-team player sweeping the floors at the Rangers training ground and he told me he hated that job. I told him I hate doing lots of things but it’s important you do them always with a smile on your face. Appreciate your surroundings and make the best of them – that’s something I’m trying to implement.
“We used to play at Tynecastle in the Premier League and the pitch wasn’t very good, Motherwell too – and that was the highest level of the Scottish game.
“That is the harsh reality of Scottish football. I hate the word ‘spoiled’ – I don’t want anybody to carry that label.
“However, I certainly think kids nowadays should be making the most of the facilities they have at their disposal, which are so different to what I was brought up in.
“The sooner this generation realise they have an amazing platform to showcase their talents, the better.”