By David Herd
The new era under Russell Martin is about to begin, and although there has not yet been the massive changes to the playing squad that many think Rangers need, it is entirely feasible that more than half of the starting eleven who face Panathinaikos at Ibrox in the crucial Champions League qualifier will be summer arrivals. Two big physically commanding centre backs have arrived, along with a full back with EPL experience. Going by defensive performances last season, that is most welcome, albeit seen by many as a decent start rather than the finished product. The £2.5m spent on Djeidi Gassama from Sheffield Wednesday also starts addressing the lack of wingers, an area that definitely needs further strengthening. No strikers have come through the door as yet, it would appear that at least one of last season’s Number Nines needs to depart first, once the price is right. The one area where the new Head Coach appears to have depth in his selection choices is in midfield.
The two most reliable and consistently impressive performers in the engine room from last season are still at the club, and despite various rumours surrounding Nico Raskin and Mo Diomande, both have played a central role in pre-season and look to be important players again in 2025/26. Connor Barron arrived last year to play beside them, and had something of an inconsistent first season, but is a player of some promise and is now a Scotland international. Lyall Cameron has arrived from Dundee, in a transfer organised under the previous recruitment team, and he is determined to be a big part of Martin’s plans. The Ibrox friendly against Brugge saw 2 more midfielders from last season feature, players bought by the last two permanent bosses who both seemed certainties for the exit door. Bajrami and Kieran Dowell have won few admirers in their time at the club, but when Martin spoke recently of inheriting a few players who have surprised him, it appears this pair are in that group. Then there are the summer arrivals who play in midfield, men who presumably are seen as vital to future success by the coaching team. Joe Rothwell and Thelo Aasgaard have both impressed at Championship level in England and there are high hopes both will star in Scottish football.
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Russell Martin’s philosophy and style of play is one based on aggression, dominating possession, pressing high up the pitch, and playing high speed one-touch passing football. He has seemed to favour a midfield central three, with the modern description of “a number six and two number eights”. For old-timers like myself, that’s one holding defensive midfielder who protects the back four and keeps the ball moving, playing behind two box-to-box midfielders who get up to support the attack as often as they can as well as look to win the ball in good areas of the pitch. The anchor role could be one well suited to Raskin or Barron, and Rothwell has played there at his previous clubs too. That sounds like we have that position well covered, but I wonder whether there is another name that should be seriously considered.
Bailey Rice was a star in the Motherwell youth system, and somewhat overshadowed teammate Lennon Miller as the one the Fir Park management had highest hopes in reaching the top. Big and physically strong for his age, with a great range of passing and terrific composure in possession, he attracted the attention of bigger clubs before ever getting the chance to pen a first professional contract in Lanarkshire. On June 30 2022, still short of his 16th birthday, Rice signed for Rangers, the team he had always supported. And although he was part of the Development Team squad from then, he did enough to impress manager Michael Beale in February of the following year to be named on the bench for the first team visit to Livingston in the Premiership, and to be brought on in the closing minutes. At 16 years and 137 days, Rice became the second youngest player to appear for Rangers in a competitive match since the game turned professional in the late 19thcentury. Only Derek Ferguson in 1983 was younger when he made his first Rangers appearance.
Since then, Bailey has had something of a slow and inconsistent Rangers career, albeit he is still more than two months away from his 19th birthday.
That couple of minutes at Livingston was his only first team appearance in season 2022/23, and he was only seen for a few minutes the following season too, with two last-minute substitute introductions his entire first team campaign. Last season, he finally made his first start for the club, but it was something of a disaster as he was replaced at half-time by Philippe Clement in the embarrassing 0-1 defeat at Ibrox to Queens Park in the Scottish Cup. Overall in domestic competition, he started just once more, in a draw at Love Street after the league split, and he came off the bench in just seven more matches. Four of these substitute appearances were in the last four league games of the season under Barry Ferguson, Rice getting his first experience of the Old Firm when replacing the injured Ianis Hagi after 88 minutes of the 1-1 draw at Ibrox. But it was in European competition that he made more of a positive impression.
Ten minutes in Nice when Rangers were already 4-1 up in their Europa League tie was the first time the Rangers support saw him in first team action in 2024/25, but it was his half-time introduction for the injured Connor Barron at Old Trafford against the giants of Manchester United where he finally gave a display that had fans and pundits alike highly impressed. On a night when Rangers were without several players and then suffered a couple more injuries early on, Rice gave a mature and composed display in front of over 70,000. It wasn’t enough to gain him a starting place the following Saturday, but he was named in the starting eleven for the first leg of the quarter-final against Bilbao at Ibrox. On a night when Rangers were reduced to ten men very early in the game, Rice had an excellent match, winning tackles, protecting his defence, and doing well in possession. It unluckily ended early because of injury, but he had again acquitted himself very well at a level far beyond the weekly grind of the Scottish Premiership.
But what now for Bailey Rice? There looks to be plenty options in front of him as a defensive midfielder and “pivot” in the centre of the field. Should he go out on loan to get regular football? That might be attractive to both club and player, but is it the right thing to do? He must look at the headlines now being generated by his old Motherwell youth team midfield partner, and wonder if he need to move away permanently. Lennon Miller at the same age is now is the first name on Motherwell’s team sheet, is their club captain, had made his full international debut, and is apparently attracting interest from home and abroad.
There is no comparison at all with Barry Ferguson in terms of playing ability, but the situation Rice finds himself in does remind me of Ferguson in 1998. He had been the youngster everyone at Ibrox tipped for stardom, but he was 19 when he made his debut for the first team at Tynecastle in May 1997, three days after 9-in-a-row was won, and when the club were holding a party at Ibrox later that day. Many expected Walter Smith to make young Ferguson a regular the following season, and he did give the teenager a handful of starts in the middle of the campaign to win The Ten, a campaign that ended in disappointment. But Smith had brought in another teenager in the summer, the aggressive young Rino Gattuso, and he played in 29 league games compared to just six for the homegrown talent. Gattuso, of course, went on to win the biggest prizes in football in a glorious career, so it’s difficult to say Ferguson should have played. But they were very different types, and there is an argument that the more skilful and creative Ferguson might have been the better option in the week-to-week pursuit of three points against teams with packed defences.
What wasn’t in doubt was Ferguson’s frustration at being overlooked when he felt he had much to offer. The arrival of Dick Advocaat in the summer saw the Dutchman immediately look to build his team around the young Scot, and the rest is history. Many are of the opinion that Ferguson, winner of five titles, 5 Scottish Cups and 5 League Cups, was not just the best Scottish footballer of his generation, but possibly the best of the 21st century. He had just needed that trust and belief in him to flourish.
Bailey Rice is not yet the age Ferguson was when he made his Rangers debut. He absolutely has time on his side. But Rangers now have a Head Coach with a philosophy that seems to suit Rice’s strengths. The player has shown against high level opposition he belongs in their company. And by the time the league season starts, it will be two and a half years since he made his debut. His time should be here, even if that is in a rotation with other midfielders rather than him being the first pick. Over the years, we have seen so often potential unfulfilled. Maybe Rice will join that list, the one in recent times with the likes of Kai Kennedy, Josh McPake, Steven Kelly and Alex Lowry. But have we given the potential of Bailey Rice the chance to blossom? He won’t start in the upcoming Champions League games, but I do hope we see a lot more of him this season and find out whether we do have a star in the making or not.