Rangers have far and away the worst record in the Scottish Premiership when it comes to fielding youngsters, a new study has revealed.
Players under the age of 22 have featured in only 1.7% of all domestic match minutes for Steven Gerrard's side last season and this season up until January - compared to 18.7% of minutes with arch rivals Celtic.
The shocking statistics have been revealed by CIES Football Observatory, who looked into the percentage of minutes played in the current season or the last completed one by U21 footballers from 1,292 clubs and 93 top divisions worldwide.
Rangers were marooned at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership table, with Hearts top having seen players under the age of 22 (at the time of the games) feature in 20.6% of all domestic match minutes over last season and a portion of this season.
St Johnstone pipped Celtic to second place with 18.8%, with Hamilton in fourth place in the table with 18.3% and St Mirren and Motherwell tied on 18% of minutes played.
Below them were Aberdeen on 14.3%, Ross County on 11.2%, Livingston on 7%, Kilmarnock on 6.8% and Hibs on 6.6%.
With Rangers some way behind all of them at the bottom on 1.7%.
Meanwhile as a league, the Scottish Premiership saw players under the age of 22 feature in 13.4% of all minutes played, some distance above that of the Bundesliga (9.8%), English Premiership (8.5%), Serie A (7.7%) and La Liga (7%).
To read the full report, click HERE
