I get fans scepticism over Nils Koppen but something excites me and here's why I'm all for promotion - Barry Ferguson

I get the scepticism. Trust me, I totally understand why some Rangers fans have their doubts about the promotion of Nils Koppen to the role of technical director at Ibrox.

Let’s be honest, Koppen has a lot of people to win over given that the big summer rebuild he oversaw hasn’t exactly worked out the way the supporters were hoping it would. But, even so, there is something that excites me about Koppen’s new position. And that’s got everything to do with his views on the need for Rangers to be producing their own young players and getting them ready for the first team. If that’s going to be his main emphasis now that he’s been given greater authority to move the club forward then, let me tell you, I’m all for it.

That’s what his background is all about. The CV he built up during his time in Holland tells you he’s a guy who identifies talent and who knows how to nurture it. And that’s exactly the route Rangers need to be going down at this moment in time.

In a recent interview, Koppen talked a lot about the importance of promoting youngsters and developing home grown boys from the academy so that they’re ready to make the big step up, the way some of us did back in the day.

It might be hard to swallow but the unfortunate truth of the matter is that Rangers simply haven’t done enough of that over the years. The production line has to be better.

I’m not going to be greedy about it either and demand that four or five kids are fast-tracked into the first team every season. That would be completely unrealistic. But I really don’t think that one per year is too much to ask for and that’s the first target Koppen should be setting for himself now that he has the chance to influence things from the top.

I’m not saying that that