Cup clash presents an opportunity to blood teenage sensation Gilmour
He is too young to play in the league, but midfielder may get a chance this week, hears Graeme Macpherson
RANGERS prospect Billy Gilmour could be handed his first-team debut in next weekend’s William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final against Hamilton Academical. The highly-rated 15-year-old is being tracked by a number of leading English and European sides, but the Ibrox club are still hopeful of persuading him to sign his first professional contract with them when he turns 16 in the summer.
SPFL rules prevent anyone under that age from playing in league matches, but there are no such restrictions in the Scottish Cup, meaning Gilmour could play some part in Saturday’s home tie.
Interim manager Graeme Murty believes Rangers is the best place for the midfielder to continue to develop for the foreseeable future.
“We were in the first-team canteen the other day and he was sitting discussing football with Kenny Miller, Lee Wallace and Wes Foderingham,” Murty said. “I just looked at him and thought, ‘how many other clubs in England or Scotland would that happen at for a 15-year-old?’. I thought it was fairly unique.
“But the kid relished it. He didn’t look out of place in training. Obviously you understand he’s young, he’s physically not mature yet, but he has, in my opinion, a first-team level of touch and subtlety that will stand him in good stead wherever he plays football.
“He’s not allowed to play in the league because of his age. It would be the cup. If he continued with his progress, with his intensity and I do have to say if he continues with his studies – his mum was very keen on that and rightly so – then he has a good chance of being involved.”
Murty has set Rangers a target of finishing second in the Ladbrokes Premiership and reaching the cup final.
“What would success for us be this year? Just coming up into the division, would finishing second and getting to a cup final, would that be a success this year? I think it would.
“Every time we walk on to the pitch we will challenge and try to strive to get to that next level. But where we are currently, we have to be realistic and say that’s the aim. Let’s make sure we focus on the small steps that are going to get us to the end target.”
Stopping Celtic’s seemingly inexorable march to 10-in-a-row is something Murty is aware of but he admitted there is little Rangers can do about it. “I’d never say it would be an irrelevance because I understand the passion and the drive to stop that happening,” Murty said. “But that’s not something we can control. Celtic are going to invest, spend whatever they want to spend.
“We have to make sure we get our processes right, our structures right, to ensure the continued success of this football club. Celtic can be where they are at the moment. But we have to ensure we get what we are doing right on and off the pitch.”
Meanwhile, Harry Forrester has admitted the uncertainty over the managerial situation has left the players feeling unsettled, as they wait to see who takes over as Mark Warburton’s long-term successor.
The midfielder said: “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t, but we’re all adults. It’s up to us as professionals to get together and produce performances.
“To see Mark leave after he’d brought me in meant I felt for him in that respect but that’s part of football. Managers come and go.
“I’m sure whatever happens from here on in, he’ll do well. I’m grateful to him for bringing me to such a good club.”
He has, in my opinion, a first-team level of touch and subtlety that will stand him in good stead wherever he plays football