Murty set to pitch in schoolboy Billy for Accies cup test
Graeme Murty could throw 15-year- old Billy Gilmour into Rangers’ Scottish Cup tie against Hamilton next week.
The Ibrox kid – who is being chased by Premier League big guns Chelsea and Arsenal – has trained with Gers’ first team since Murty took temporary charge.
The stand-in boss is desperate for Gilmour to sign a professional contract when he’s 16 in June and stay at the Ibrox club.
He’s too young to play in a Premiership game but after two defeats on the spin to Dundee and Inverness, Murty has revealed the midf ielder could be involved against Accies on Saturday.
He said: “Billy’s not allowed to play in the league because of his age so it would be the Scottish Cup.
“If he continues his progress, with his intensity – and his studies as his mum is very keen on those, rightly so – then he’s got a good chance of being involved.
“But there are no guarantees. I’ve had a one-to-one with Billy many, many times and told him this is the best place for him.
“In the first-team canteen the other day he was discussing football with Kenny Miller, Lee Wallace and Wes Foderingham.
“I just looked at him and thought: ‘At how many other clubs in England or Scotland would that happen for a 15-year-old?’
“But the kid relished it, he hasn’t looked out of place in training. Obviously you understand he’s young, he’s physically not mature yet. But he has a first-team level of touch and subtlety that will stand him in good stead wherever he plays football.”
Murty was trying to nurture Rangers’ Under-20 side before his shock elevation to first-team boss after Mark Warburton left.
Having worked at the muchvaunted academy at Southampton he admits Ibrox youngsters aren’t at that standard.
But he’s convinced that, along with Gilmour, there is talent coming through at Auchenhowie.
Murty said: “The young players here have to be good enough. They have to take a first-team shirt off the person who’s there. And if they are hungry and driven enough, and have the quality, then the opportunity is here.
“The former manager and myself have been clear in that. With the Under-20s that is their aim. The best 16-year- old I ever saw was Luke Shaw at Saints who went for £28million.
“Are the boys here at that standard? They’re not there yet. But each and every one of them has the potential to go and be a first team player.
“It’s just a question of making sure we support them in the right way.
“Then they must have the drive to take advantage of everything that we have at this wonderful facility to make it happen. There’s definitely talent here.”