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Rangers Academy graduate Jamie Ness was proud to feature for the Light Blues during his playing days and he is now forging a career in the coaching world.
The talented midfielder burst on to the scene during Walter Smith’s second spell at the club and played his part in the title-winning campaign of 2010/11.
He made his first-team debut in a 4-1 win at Motherwell on Boxing Day in 2010 and started an Old Firm derby at Ibrox a few days later.
It was the reward for years of hard graft with the Academy and impressive showings in training and he would go on to feature regularly for Smith’s side throughout the rest of that campaign.
The highlight, of course, was his phenomenal 30-yard strike in a Scottish Cup tie against Celtic at Ibrox – a goal that fans still talk to him about today – and it is one he will always enjoy watching.
Ness featured during Ally McCoist’s spell in the dugout the following season and would have played much more had it not been for a series of unfortunate injuries.
He moved to Stoke in 2012, who were in the Premier League at that time, and went on to play for Leyton Orient, Crewe, Scunthorpe, Plymouth, Dundee and Forfar before hanging up his boots in 2022 at just 31.
Now that some time has passed, he looks back on his career with pride – despite lengthy spells on the sidelines – and he lived the dream by featuring for his boyhood heroes alongside some truly great players.
Since retiring, the 34-year-old has started his own youth academy and was recently appointed as lead high-performance football coach at the Strathallan School in Perth.
He relishes both roles and has a passion for coaching kids of all ages and abilities.
In a wide-ranging interview as he showed his support for The Rangers Youth Development Company – who have donated more than £12 million to the Academy to date and assisted Jamie during his early time at the club – he reflected on his life in football and coaching journey.
Ness said: “I put on some sessions for the Strathallan School at the beginning of the year, they are trying to grow their football set up, and I started the new role as their Football Development Coach the end of August.
“Working with young kids in schools is always something I knew I wanted to do and staying in football is a bonus so I am able to pass on my experiences and knowledge and take that into a performance school setting.
“I coach kids from 6 up to 18 and there are international students as well so this is great for me as I get to work with kids from all ages and abilities.
“I started my own academy when I finished playing football and it all began quite naturally.
“I was considering my next steps when I retired and didn’t have the appetite to go back into professional level football or into Academy set up so I just started locally and it grew really well.
“I put on sessions for primary school kids who are taking their first steps in the game and individual one-to-one performance sessions with players who were already in pro-youth set ups.
“It is a wide range of coaching styles – group sessions and holiday camps and it has grown in the last couple of years.
“It is an exciting time for me. As I got towards the end of my career and got older I knew that I wanted to try something different and I stepped away from the game for a wee while.
“But that break allowed me to look at things in a different way and see the bigger picture.
“It is really rewarding to work with young kids – even if they have never played before, after six months you can see their progression.
“Some who come and are maybe struggling at school or are anxious, when they get one-to-one sessions they light up and get exercise and it makes such a big difference for them so there are so many positives.
“It has been great and I really enjoy it.
“I have a lot of knowledge to pass on. I came through at Rangers, moved down to the English Premier League, dropped down the divisions then came back up to Scotland and also played part-time football so I have experience from lots of British leagues.
“Those experiences have stood me in good stead and given me an all-round approach and view of football.
“The natural progression would have been going into a club academy and working with the best of the best but I have found my coaching path really rewarding as I get to work with kids who have no knowledge of football and others that do.
“I can change the sessions accordingly and I enjoy the variety.
“I look back on my own career with pride now.
“I was at Kilmarnock’s under-14s and trained there a couple of times a week. I was at the stage that if I wanted to progress I had to look at another set up and Scott Bryson was my coach at Killie and he moved to Rangers.
“He spoke to George Adams about me and I joined at under-15s and never looked back from there.
“I worked with Steven Wright. Billy Kirkwood, Tommy Wilson and Ian Durrant at the Rangers Academy and it was a great place to come through.
“It was a great grounding for me. Durranty, as a former midfielder, pulled me aside and gave me bits of advice and taught me what I should and shouldn’t be doing.
“He is one of the best midfielders Rangers have ever produced and his advice was invaluable. It was a great football education.
“When I first started training with the first-team it was terrifying.
“I trained regularly with them from 16 and 17 and we had a really good group of young players like Danny Wilson and John Fleck.
“We trained every day and there were so many big characters about – Ally McCoist, Durranty, Kris Boyd, Kenny Miller and Barry Ferguson.
“It was intimidating for a young player but we coped well and I remember going in to have a chat with Walter Smith about my future – which was another terrifying experience!
“I chapped his door to see what he thought and what my options would be because I knew I needed to play games.
“I must have been 19 at the time and I was chomping at the bit to play.
“He said it would be good to get me playing and there was talk of a loan move to Clyde and after the conversation it took the pressure off.
“I knew where I stood and I went into training with a bit more freedom and was able to go and express myself.
“It all clicked into place from there and a month later I made my debut against Motherwell then a week later I was starting an Old Firm game at Ibrox.
“It all happened so quickly but it was such a great experience and they were great people to learn from.
“It was always about standards and my locker in the changing room was next to David Weir.
“To have that as a young player and seeing how he approached every day at the highest level was invaluable.
“There was no option but to conduct yourself like he and the other senior players did.
“As a young player, we were always told we had to be better than the first-team players to play.
“So you had to perform better than them in training and that always set the tone.
“That helped the whole squad as we were young, hungry players coming in to train.
“Having grown up at Rangers, the expectation to win is drummed into you at an early stage.
“When you are competing for titles and cups that is the norm and it is the same at youth level.
“I played in four youth cup finals and you had to win. That was the expectation and the standard.
“The pressure of having to win is what it is to be a Rangers player.
“I got my chance under Walter and grabbed it with both hands.
“My first start was against Celtic at Ibrox and you won’t get a tougher match that that.
“We lost the game but I felt like I held my own and had done well.
“That gave Walter and the coaches a bit more trust that I could handle it.
“I played 7 or 8 games in a row and slotted in naturally. Lee McCulloch was playing in midfield with me and Steven Davis was out on the right and we had a good run of games.
“I picked up a niggle in the warm-up of a European game and was out for a bit and I felt I was playing catch up for the rest of the season.
“That would be my story for the next few years unfortunately but I have very fond memories of that time.
“Scoring that goal against Celtic was great and I still meet people now who want to talk about it.
“I met someone at my daughter’s school the other day who told me they were at the game and had a great view when I hit that shot.
“That’s more than 14 years ago and is still brought up so I don’t mind that at all.
“I played in a title-winning side and you probably don’t fully appreciate that at the time.
“We won the league at Rugby Park that year and you just think winning is what you are meant to do.
“Looking back I now appreciate how big that was and I still have my league winners’ medal.
“To be part of that is something that will stay with me forever.
“Working with Walter was definitely the highlight. He was the best manager I got the opportunity to work under.
“He just had that aura about him and didn’t have to say too much to get a reaction from the players. We knew what was expected.
“I picked up so much knowledge from working with great players and coaches at Rangers almost without realising it.
“Subconsciously I take that into my sessions. It’s about setting those standards.
“I left Rangers after Administration and it was such a difficult time for everyone at the club.
“The opportunity came up for me to join Stoke in the English Premier League. With hindsight I should maybe have waited for a year or two then made the move. Things could have been so different.
“Injury problems followed me unfortunately and I never quite made the impact I would have liked.
“When I finished playing, I struggled for a while as I was thinking about what could have been if my injury problems hadn’t happened.
“Now, having had time to reflect, and having retired for a few years I am able to look back and say there are not many kids who make it at Rangers and go on to have a career for 13 or 14 years.
“I had great experiences and can appreciate the players I played with and against, the managers and coaches I worked with and what I actually achieved in football.
“It wasn’t winning the Champions League with Rangers and the World Cup with Scotland like you dream as a kid but things fall into place for a reason and I am definitely more accepting of that now.
“I have four children and to bring them back to Ibrox one day and to be able to tell them that this is where your dad used to play is something to be very proud of.
“I absolutely loved my time at Rangers. When you are there and living it you can’t fully appreciate it, but now I appreciate the level it took to get there and stay there.
“The experiences I had, the people I got to work with, the players I got to play with – it is such an amazing thing to look back on.
“It’s something that can’t be taken away from me. I look back with a lot of pride and a lot of good memories.”
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