B teams to World Cups: Why latest proposal works for Rangers amid new plans with Celtic, Hearts and Aberdeen

The introduction of B teams into what would effectively be a new fifth tier of the Scottish football set-up would only result in the country catching up with what has long been working for other nations, believes Rangers academy director Craig Mullholland.

Proposals are to be circulated among the 42 senior clubs for the establishment of a Conference League below League Two. Formed by B sides from Rangers, Celtic, Hearts and, it is expected, Aberdeen combining with six teams each from the Lowland and Highland Leagues, financing for the division would come from six-figure entry payments paid by the four Premiership clubs. Currently, Rangers, Celtic and Hearts B teams compete in the Lowland League. However, that arrangement will end at the conclusion of this season, while Ibrox manager Michael Beale has questioned the extent to which playing at this level advances the development of young players seeking to use such exposure as a springboard to first-team football. Mullholland considers that B teams must become more embedded in Scottish football’s structures when the evidence points to their value in other parts of the world. Spain, Germany, Portugal, Croatia, Ukraine and the United States have varying models that have allowed for their incorporation. Indeed, the second tier of Croatia boasts the reserve sides of Dinamo Zagreb, Hadjuk Split and Osjek.

“The CIES Football Observatory looked at the top 10 clubs who produced players for the recent Qatar World Cup and the one thing they had in common is that they have B teams,” said Mullholland. “I’m not saying it’s a panacea to cure all ills, it’s not. But it’s clearly a contributing factor. If you look at this country, there is provision up to under-18s but the gap from there to the first team is massive. As a country we need to fill that gap. All your top players in the Champions League are exposed to some form of men’s football around the age of 17.5. So we need the best young Scottish talent to be doing the same in a competitive fixture with crowds on a Saturday.

“When we go to ECA [European Club Association] conferences and speak to other sporting directors, they all say [B teams] is a debate we had 10 years ago. Are we lagging behind? Yeah, basically. It’s not just your Spains that are doing it when it’s countries of similar populations to us, like Croatia. Their success rate of getting players from B teams to play for the international team, which has taken them to World Cup finals and semi-finals lately, is incredible.”

Rangers and Celtic's B teams currently play in the Lowland League.

Meanwhile, the Ibrox club believe they are ahead of the curve with the launch of a new initiative RangersReady. It is one that will see 10 centres across a host of Scotland’s major population regions run football courses for six-to-nine-year-olds. In these, the accent will be on play and developing an enthusiasm for the game with an overall distinct branding – in which no Rangers crests appear – as opposed to the club-extension, structured, academy-style, coaching clinics typical at such a formative age. Mullholland accepts that clubs from outside Glasgow will view RangersReady as the Ibrox side encroaching on domains. “As one of the biggest clubs in the country, we know we’ve got some of the best kids from the Glasgow area,” he said. “I think 58 per cent of the academy graduates who have played for the first team over the last few seasons have all come from within an hour of the training ground.

“In one sense that’s great as we know we’re getting this area right. But every time we play Aberdeen we see one or two boys who we think are outstanding talents. Aberdeen have had that city to themselves for quite a long time. Dundee and United have had their city to themselves too. We want the best players. Not just in the Glasgow area, but Scotland. I was recently out at the ECA listening to Monaco, who have something similar [to RangersReady]. They’re based in the south of France but go all the way up to Paris with a similar concept. Sporting Lisbon have hundreds of centres all the way through Portugal to make sure they get the best kids.

“So will other clubs like the fact we’re coming to their cities they’ve had to themselves? Probably not. But with the ambition we have to get the best talent in, I think it’s something we should do. The key part is that, however, we’re not going to ask any of these kids to sign. We don’t believe in it. We’ve all seen clubs with banners up saying ‘here’s our elite under-7s squad’. But the kid might only have been playing for 12 months, so how can they be elite? It’s bonkers.”