Hibs manager praised for bucking 'depressing' trend amid calls for Scottish Premiership rethink

Statistics suggest a worrying decline in youngsters being given a chance in the Scottish top flight

Hibs left-back Lewis Stevenson challenges Aberdeen's Bojan Miovski during the 2-0 win at Easter Road on Sunday. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

Lewis Stevenson has lauded his gaffer Nick Montgomery’s ballsy approach to youth development, praising the Hibs manager for giving youth a chance.

The left-back, who will head to Celtic Park tonight looking to help Hibs extend their unbeaten league run to seven games, is old enough to have played the last time the Leith side travelled to Celtic Park and won, 13 years ago, but he is an advocate of promoting talented youngsters through the ranks.

Last weekend only three Scottish players under the age of 21 were given a start in the Premiership, with young homegrown talent struggling to get the nod most weeks.

As someone who broke into the Hibs team as a teenager, Stevenson has a problem with that, using the likes of 16-year-olds Rory Whittaker and Josh Landers, and 17-year-old Rudi Molotnikov, who Montgomery has turned to, as shining examples of the talent lurking just below the surface at clubs.

"It's a depressing statistic and it shows Scottish football is all about results. Maybe when you get to the end of the season and some teams have less to play for then they can start bleeding in the young boys.

"Because the league is quite small and then there is the split, everyone is playing for something, so there is not that luxury of throwing young players in as there is a fear. To be fair to our gaffer, he has shown a lot of confidence in the youngsters even during a really tight period in the season. Every point is massive yet he's still willing to put the young boys in.

"It's frustrating that clubs would rather play a boy from England or someone foreign at that age rather than using the young players who are already there.

"Maybe we could look at restructuring as a bigger league would give clubs more of a chance to blood youngsters as every point may not be as important as it is now. That time during Covid was a good time to restructure the league but it's tough as it's a business at the end of the day.

"For young boys coming through, though, it has been tough.”

Stevenson was an academy graduate himself and while he understands the pressures managers are under, he also wants to see homegrown fledglings break into the top tier.

Impressed by the likes of fellow full-back Whittaker, who has been training and playing with the first team, he predicts a bright future if the manager continues to back the starlets.

"It's a lot more mental rather than technical as there are a lot of young boys with a lot of technical ability but it’s about having the confidence to go out and perform at Easter Road.

“You need people to believe in you and the gaffer does that alongside Dave [Gray], they show a lot of confidence in the young players.

"They trust them and even in the game on Sunday when we were under the cosh a bit, he still put Rudi on so it shows he's willing to put the young boys in. The ones who have come in have done remarkably well and that is good for the rest of the young boys who aren't playing as they can see that there is a pathway.”