Celtic & Rangers bosses offer solutions to Scotland’s youth puzzle

Celtic and Heart of Midlothian are the only two Premiership clubs to have their B teams in the current Lowland League, with Rangers having withdrawn their young side last season.

However, Clement thinks there is merit in having such sides higher up the Scottish football pyramid, citing his own experience with Club Bruges in his native Belgium.

“I think what this country misses is that the B teams can play in the second league,” he said. “That would help a lot and you see that in countries where a lot of young players get chances and can grow.

“You get also more players who are at the age of 20/21/22 who are ready to play in the first league because they played at 17/18/19/20 games in the second league and they could make the step in between.”

Clement reckons that it is “a big step that people are not open for yet” in Scotland.

He considers B-team football superior to sending young players on loan because the parent club has more control over their development, pointing to Rangers midfielder Alex Lowry’s experience with Hearts last season.

However, he stressed that it would not only be the clubs who have B teams who would benefit but also other clubs who would be able to sign players from the top clubs who are more ready for first-team football.

“In Holland, they have been doing that for a long time,” he pointed out. “And, in Belgium, it took also a long time before the teams agreed to do it because in the beginning everybody was also afraid of it.

“Now everybody’s winning out of that.”

Clement also highlighted the “crazy situation” he encountered when signing 21-year-old midfielder Connor Barron from Aberdeen this summer.

That the compensation Scottish clubs need to pay for players from a rival Scottish club’s academy is greater than if the player is signed by a club from another country.

“Even to Premier League where they have all the money in the world,” Clement complained.

“So it’s more expensive to keep them in Scotland. I don’t think it’s logical in Scotland to make rules like that. You need to make rules to keep players in the league here.”

Like Rodgers, Clement points to the difficulty of bridging the gap between academy football and the first team at a club like Rangers but insists he is “passionate” about bringing young players through.

“You saw at the end of the last game, we had several young players from the academy on the pitch,” he added. “Before, it was less the case.”