Halliday feels future is bright

Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday believes Scottish football has a bright future - but his experience has taught him that clubs need to have faith in their young players.

Halliday returned to Ibrox in the summer having been released by the Rangers academy as a schoolboy.

Halliday subsequently emerged through a Livingston set-up that gave him his debut as a 16-year-old in a matchday squad that featured Dundee defender James McPake and future Scotland internationals Murray Davidson, Graham Dorrans, Robert Snodgrass and Leigh Griffiths.

All of those players were handed their debuts in their teens and Halliday feels that was a crucial aspect of their future success.

"I played with a lot of very good youth coaches at Livingston, fantastic skill sets and very good training sessions,'' the 24-year-old said.

"The main thing is they took a chance on these young boys. These boys went on to have a very good career and Livingston benefited from that as well because they were valuable assets to the team, did well on the park and they got a bit of money for them when they moved on.

"The way Livingston did it was very good and I think it's something that a lot of Scottish clubs can look at.

"It's difficult because some young boys are floating around their first-team squads and maybe teams don't want to loan them out but for me it was vital that I got first-team experience.

"I reaped the benefits, was lucky enough that I had a good season and Middlesbrough took the chance on me.''

Scottish football's youth development policies have come under the spotlight in recent weeks amid the national team's failure to qualify for Euro 2016, club struggles in Europe and plans by Gordon Strachan and Brian McClair to modify the system for the Scottish Football Association.

But Halliday said: "I think it's in a very good place just now. It was obviously disappointing the way the campaign ended for the national team but in my opinion the national team right now is the best they've had for a long time.

"And I've managed to catch quite a lot of (Scotland Under-)21s games and I think they have a lot of very good players. It took Barrie McKay, who has been one of our outstanding performers this season, until that last squad to get in so that just shows the competition they have got for players. I think it's an exciting time for Scottish football.

"I watch as many 17s games and 20s games as I can and I definitely think the future is very bright.''

Halliday, who was speaking to promote the Rangers Youth Development Company, added: "They have put a lot of money into it in the last 10 years and rightly so.

"Fans want to see them bringing youth players through and we have a lot of good youth talent here, and we certainly have the platform to do that with the gaffer here because he believes in the youth system.

"Rangers gave me that platform and basic football skills when I was a young boy. It's well documented that I moved on, and at the time it was very good for me because I got a lot of first-team experience at a very young age.

"That's something that the club look to do, there are already four or five boys out on loan gaining first-team experience. I always keep tabs on them and they are all playing and doing well.

"The next brand of youth boys like Ross Lyon, Jordan Thompson and Ryan Hardie will be looking to gain first-team experience but they are in and about the first team here so I'm sure that's their main priority right now.''