Rangers boss Mark Warburton endorses 'B team' proposal

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 22 November 2015

Mark Warburton backs Ronny Deila's idea of allowing B teams to be integrated into the Scottish leagues, which the Rangers boss believes will aid player development.

Rangers manager Mark Warburton has admitted that he would be open to seeing B teams introduced in the senior leagues.

The point was initially raised by Celtic counterpart Ronny Deila earlier this week, who suggested that the Bhoys' reserve side should have the right to compete in the Scottish Championship.

Warburton was involved in the creation of the European Under-19 NextGen Series, and he believes that allowing certain clubs to field what would essentially be their youth teams would only help with player development.

"You've got to challenge the players in a competitive and varied environment," he told BBC Sport. "I said something similar down south and got a barrage of abuse for it."

"Our young players are playing the same ones week in, week out. It holds no real challenge for them. We have to look at the quality of offering to best prepare them for that transition from exciting young performer to competent first-team performer. Now, we're not bridging that gap."

Former chief executive of the old Scottish Football League, David Longmuir, previously raised the point regarding B teams but the idea was superseded by league reconstruction.