John Collins has hailed Rangers proposal for Colt teams to be introduced into the senior club set up as a way to help develop talent.
The former Celtic, Monaco and Everton star reckons the proposal is the obvious solution to young players at top clubs being exposed to first-team football.
And he is adamant that even the most talented players, like Kai Kennedy or Karamoko Dembele, have no chance of breaking in to the top team under the current circumstances.
Like many other former professionals, Collins is an advocate of testing young stars out of their comfort zone and against men, rather than those their own age in the comfortable environs of Academy football.
He told BBC Sportsound : "I think there is a place for B teams.
"I have watched Celtic and Rangers reserve teams last season a lot and there is talent there.
"The problem you have got with these 17 to 19 year-olds is they will not get into Celtic's team because they have got McGregor and top players in front of them.
"But they need pushed and developed. It works in Spain, Portugal, Germany and Croatia.
"It's such an important time in their development at that age and if they are playing in the reserve team winning comfortably every week they don't get that development.
"As soon as they get into that league set-up and they are playing in front of fans and against adults that are fighting for a £50 bonus they get tested and stretched.
"For me it's not about Celtic or Rangers it's about Scottish talent for the national team.
"That was a great idea by Rangers, a great proposal and it should have been implemented instantly because it's the best thing for young talent.
"People don't understand that development period for young players at the big clubs.
" Kai Kennedy at Rangers and Dembele are terrific little talented football players but they aren't going to develop playing in youth football in Scotland.
"They need to be playing against men. Is Dembele going to get into the Celtic team ahead of Christie or Rogic?"
