Although, Pedro Caixinha is long gone and now Rangers former manager, the Portuguese left a legacy the club will benefit from in the long-term.
Interim Light Blues boss Graeme Murty, whose permanent job is as Lead Development Squad Coach responsible for the Under-20s team, has revealed how Caixinha helped inspire the youth players as far as making the grade goes.
The trio of Ross McCrorie, Ryan Hardie and Jamie Barjonas are already part of the main team setup, while Robbie McCrorie and Liam Kelly are coming through.
The quintet used to watch the first team train earlier in the season, with Caixinha ensuring the youth sides often had the time to watch his side’s sessions.
Murty revealed: “If I’m looking at the Under-20s, I’d say 95 per cent of them have trained with the first team squad at some stage this season, which is great. They get to see the best players doing what they do and what it takes to stay there.
“Jamie Barjonas’ development has come on apace, because he’s training with Ryan Jack, Graham Dorrans, Niko Kranjcar and Kenny Miller. He’s seeing it firsthand.
“These players are aspiring to be first-team players, so they need to see it. Pedro was very open. If the 20s had a session, we would often schedule it so we were able to go and watch the first team train – to see what it’s like to be a Rangers player, to look and listen.
“They’d always come back and talk about the noise, the intensity, the demands. That led to their own sessions improving in those regards.”
Caixinha often times reiterated his plans to give youth a chance while at Rangers, and a special closed-door friendly with Scottish Championship side Greenock Morton was played early October to that effect.
3 different XI’s played 35 minutes each, with a lot of youth team players as young as 15 years of age getting game time.
