IN the six years that he has known Calvin Ramsay, SFA Performance School manager and Scotland Under-17 coach Brian McLaughlin has seen evidence of the defender’s strong mentality on many occasions.
He deliberately gave Ramsay insurmountable challenges – like playing him out of position in midfield and throwing him into games against bigger and stronger opponents from leading European nations – and watched as he failed to cope.
But every time he witnessed the right back dust himself down, redouble his efforts and improve as a footballer.
So McLaughlin does not expect the 18-year-old, who yesterday completed a record-breaking £6.5m transfer from Aberdeen to Liverpool, to be overwhelmed in the slightest by the magnitude of the task which he will face at Anfield.
The former Celtic winger believes Ramsay will have heady ambitions on Merseyside and will be determined to force his way into Jurgen Klopp’s side next season, play next to his countryman Andy Robertson and then earn himself a Scotland call-up.
“I think that will be Calvin’s thought process,” he said. “Calvin will be thinking: ‘I wouldn’t mind playing alongside the Scotland’s captain’. I have no doubt, knowing the young man, his next target after that will be the Scotland squad.
“He will be looking at Nathan (Everton and Scotland right back Patterson), one of his friends, and thinking: ‘He is really young, I need to do more to get ahead of Nathan’. He will thinking he needs to do more to get ahead of Tony Ralston (Celtic and Scotland right back) who has been doing great recently. That is his next challenge.
“But Calvin will step up to the challenge. It will be a little bit like Ben Doak (the 16-year-old Celtic winger cum full-back who signed for Liverpool for £600,000 back in March). He will need to go down there, be patient and settle in to the whole culture and a new country.
“But once he finds his feet in a few months he will do well. The good thing about Calvin in particular is he has got a fantastic mentality. He has had that through the year groups, from when he played for Scotland initially.”
Champions League finalists Liverpool are one of the best sides in Europe, not just England, but McLaughlin is confident that Ramsay will flourish against top class continental opposition thanks to the grounding which he received as a youngster in the national set-up.
“We always try to, especially in youth games at the youngest age groups, to give them the hardest challenge, physically more than anything,” he said.
“We almost know the challenge is possibly too far for the young players. But we take it. The idea is to keep developing them so they are ready for the A squad because the A squad is the only squad that matters.
“So we gave Calvin harder challenges. Sometimes we played him in midfield to try and develop elements of his game. We put him in certain areas to test him.
“Sometimes he didn’t play well, sometimes we had to let him know he didn’t play well. But he has always stood up to it. So for me, once he settles in at Liverpool, he will have the mentality he needs and he will rise to the challenge.”
McLaughlin continued: “When he came into the squad initially, the challenge for him was how we want to play. We are trying to play a way that is in line with Europe. It is the only way you are going to get to the best in Europe and play like the best in Europe.
“We asked him to play a certain way. It puts young players under pressure when they are on the ball. But that is how they learn. When they start finding their feet, it is up to the coaches to find the next challenge for them.
“Through the years we have taken Spain in friendlies, we have taken France, we have taken Germany, we have taken them all. That’s how you start to develop. You don’t develop by making it easy, you develop by making the challenge hard.
“It is a crazy thought process, but you almost want them to fail. As a coach, that is where you then earn your money. Once they get to that level you find another challenge.”
Ramsay is the latest graduate of the SFA Performance School programme that was launched back in 2012 to be signed by a top English club – Billy Gilmour of Chelsea and Patterson of Everton are two other high-profile success stories.
McLaughlin argued the progress which the trio have made in the professional game in the past few years shows the system is working and revealed that he expects many more alumni to follow in their footsteps in the seasons to come.
“I first saw Calvin when he was 12,” he said. “He developed through his four years at Hazelhead Academy under Stuart Glennie
“Wee Calvin came back every single day whether he’d a good day or a bad day. He’d always come back the next day and try to get better. You could see some of his potential starting to show towards the end of his four years.
“Calvin over the years has had a lot of the traits that Nathan had. You could see Calvin slowly but surely growing, believing and getting better. That was in the years 12 to 16 and luckily enough we managed to get him into our national squad system then.
“The signs were there. It was just a matter of waiting. The club is really important in this. We don’t form teams or try to create a team. We just try to help develop individual players. When they are 18, 19 or 20 then they are ready to go and be a part of this (Scotland) team.
“It’s a different way of developing players. But the success has started to become evident. What we are seeing now is Billy, Nathan and Calvin, and there are a few others about to go to England I believe, emerging.
“We always try to get them back into the schools all the time to talk to the young players. We hope to use them as role models for what they can achieve, especially when you are 12. That’s the plan. At the moment it seems to be working.”
Patterson and Ramsay have banked Rangers and Aberdeen multi-million pound transfer fees respectively and McLaughlin is hopeful that will encourage more Premiership clubs will give their promising youngsters game time in the coming seasons.
"A lot of good work is happening at the young age groups,” he said. “But the players still need opportunities. Calvin got his at Aberdeen and we felt he would be ready.
"Nathan was the same. He probably only got half an opportunity at Rangers and ran with it. The potential in that boy is incredible, he just needs to play regular games. He's had bad luck with injury recently, but Nathan can go to the very top.
“I think Calvin will do great at Liverpool. He just needs to settle in and be patient. But then he will have the mentality he needs and he has got the ability.”
