County chief will take time to think about colt teams
ROSS COUNTY chairman Roy MacGregor last night welcomed Rangers’ league reconstruction plan — but said it would be foolish to try and implement it in time for the new SPFL season. The Ibrox club have brought forward a three-tier plan of 14-14-18 that would spare Hearts and Partick Thistle relegation, admit Brora Rangers and Kelty Hearts into an expanded League One and see Rangers and Celtic introduce B teams to the bottom division.
While MacGregor admits there is much to admire in the proposal, one which is understood to have the backing of Celtic, he believes the immediate priority should be ensuring the safe resumption of the game on August 1.
He said: ‘Making decisions at a time when there is stress in an industry is not clever.
‘It might be the right document but my focus is getting my players in next week, making them safe and preparing them to play football if allowed on August 1.
‘That is a big ask for football clubs. To try and take a look at something else when we have been through it once or twice will take time.
‘It’s a medium-term project. This needs to soak and it needs to be right for the full 42 clubs.’
Rangers brought forward their document in the knowledge that it has little chance of immediate success. However, with the Scottish football landscape fluid and a number of clubs still uncertain about when and how they will be able to return to action, they have decided to submit their ideas for scrutiny anyway.
Stenhousemuir chairman Iain McMenemy was invited to take in a presentation from Rangers yesterday morning. Although wary of the idea of so-called colt teams, he has long championed the idea of strategic partnerships, which would see clubs establish closer links across the divisions.
‘I actually sat down with Craig Mulholland (Rangers head of academy) about a year ago and went through some ideas,’ said McMenemy. ‘I’ve been pushing strategic partnerships for some time and more recently I have also felt we need to change the number of loans from four to six just for this season because of the coronavirus. That would be of benefit to lower-league clubs in terms of wage bills and identifying players, but it would also be of benefit to clubs that may not be running their reserve teams or their youth sides. I felt that was a win-win.
‘I proposed them separately because I have been proposing strategic partnerships for a couple of years now and didn’t seem to be getting any traction.
‘Both could sit alongside each other. Clubs need to work together because the lower leagues can actually be of more benefit to the teams at the top of the tree by working with them in developing talent.
‘I am talking not just about young players but coaches as well.’
In common with Hibs and Aberdeen, neither Celtic or Rangers fielded a team in last season’s SPFL Reserve League.
Both Mulholland and his Celtic counterpart Chris McCart have long advocated the idea of introducing colt teams into the lower leagues and their clubs are willing to pay an entry fee and restrict their promotion prospects to Championship level.
Acknowledging Rangers’ absence from last season’s SPFL Reserve League, MacGregor can understand why they are looking at a fresh model.
‘I think the document has some really good things, the development of players is there, but everyone needs a wee bit more time,’ he reasoned.
‘I would like to know what my brothers in the part-time teams thought of the principle. But the principle of developing players and getting them to play competitive football with men is positive.
‘I have always been a fan of the colt teams if they can afford it. Getting younger players in and sharing them round the Scottish scene, the principle of it seems right. It’s just too late to do it this season. We need to take some time to take the views because we will need to carry all 42 clubs.
‘We are going to get a fixture out in three weeks’ time, we can’t go back to this situation.’