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Steven Smith has progressed from the Rangers Academy to the first-team as a player and now a coach and he has praised RYDC for donating more than £12.5 million to the club during his time here.
The 40-year-old was confirmed as a member of Danny Rohl’s backroom team recently and he is thriving in the role following years of hard work at Academy level.
Steven always displayed great desire and determination to make it to the senior squad when he was a young player and he had the privilege of learning from Light Blues royalty like John Greig, Walter Smith, Ally McCoist, Ian Durrant, John Brown and Bobby Russell as he developed.
He joined fellow Academy graduate Liam Kelly to announce our latest £300,000 donation at the training ground and appreciates the true value of our annual funding.
Smith said: “I’m always delighted to show my support for RYDC and this latest donation highlights their incredible backing for the Rangers Academy.
“I developed here as a player and a young coach thanks to RYDC funding and everyone at the club is extremely grateful for their annual support.
“£12.5 million has been generated so far and that is an unbelievable amount to raise for youth football.
“Thanks to everyone at RYDC for their hard work and to all Rangers supporters who contributed to this latest £300,000 donation.”
Steven always considered it an honour and privilege to wear the Rangers jersey during his playing career and he has exactly the same feeling about his current first-team role.
He first joined the Light Blues as an 8-year-old and signed a professional contract with the club in 2002 before making his first-team debut in 2004/05 during Alex McLeish’s time as manger.
The talented left-back featured regularly the following season and started big matches – Villarreal in the Champions League and Old Firm derbies among them.
Smith and fellow Academy graduate Charlie Adam were among the few success stories of the Paul Le Guen era, as both featured heavily in the Frenchman’s side, and although injuries curtailed his appearances under legendary manager Walter Smith, he was still a regular during season 2009/10.
At 24, he took the decision to move on and played for Norwich, Preston, Aberdeen and Portland Timbers before returning to Ibrox in 2013 for two more seasons.
He moved to Kilmarnock in 2015 and was also named club captain at Rugby Park before he hung up his boots in 2017.
Steven returned to Rangers as an Academy coach in 2020 and worked with a number of age groups so he has more than earned his chance to coach at first-team level.
He said: “I feel like I have. I’ve been coaching for such a long time and there comes a point where you feel you’re ready to make the next step.
“I’m fortunate enough to be in the position that the club have given me.
“It’s a great opportunity and I would like to think that I’m repaying the faith that they’ve shown in me. So, I think it works both ways.
“I took the team against Dundee Utd before Danny and his team came in and I did feel like I was ready for it.
“I understand there was probably a lot of people on the outside that think you’ve only coached in the academy. But the experiences that I’ve had in there have helped me to get to the point where I was really comfortable in that first-team coaching environment.
“I’ve been leading the under 19s, took the B team and I’ve also been on the interim staff before with the first-team.
“So, all those experiences made me feel like I was more than ready to take that opportunity.
“When a new manager comes in, you just never know how it’s going to work but I’m in the fortunate enough position where it has worked well.
“Relationships build at the beginning is important, there’s a wee bit of the unknown because you don’t know each other.
“But as time has gone on, the relationship has built and is getting stronger all the time. I’m really enjoying working with them.
“I also know all the Academy players and it’s an advantage that I have.
“I really enjoyed working there and I still try and watch as many games as I possibly can even though it’s a lot more difficult now with the schedule.
“But if Danny needs Academy players for training or matchday squads I know the ones who are ready to come round.
“I know a lot about them so it does put me in a good position.
“It’s difficult to break into the first-team, but it’s no more difficult now than what it was 20 years ago.
“It’s the exact same because the club will never change. The expectations will never change. You’ve got to win everything.
“As a young player coming into that environment, you need to find a way to do well with the Academy then you need to find a way to earn the right to train next to the first-team players.
“Then when you’re training, you need to find a way to push them out the way and play.
“Rangers fans always want the young Scottish players to do well, so you’ll always have that backing.
“It’s hard because you’re still a young player and you’re still learning, but every time you get the chance, whether it’s five minutes or 50 minutes, you need to have impact.
“And it’s not easy because people forget that you’re still a young player but that’s part and parcel of what you need to deal with when you try and play here.
“As a young player, I was lucky enough to work with Bobby Russell, John Brown, Ian Durrant, Ally McCoist, John McGregor, Tommy McLean, Walter Smith and John Greig when he was at the youth side.
“I’m really fortunate that throughout my time here I had so many guys who played here and are certain types of characters.
“The one thing they all had was mentality, every single one of them.
“I had so many ex-players to learn from and they all had the same type of message. It was about a winning mentality and I still use the lessons they taught me today.
“I developed as a player and a coach with RYDC funding and everybody in here should really appreciate what we get.
“We need to provide the best environment that we can for the younger players and without RYDC funding we wouldn’t be able to do that.
“Everything they give us is about helping keep our best players here and making the best players better so we really appreciate it.”
Youth development at the club is assisted by annual RYDC donations to the Rangers Academy and more than £12.5 million has already been provided.
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