Kyle McClelland reckons it’s easy for youngsters to get lost at Rangers due to the sheer size of the club.
Struggling to see a path into the first team from the B team the defender made the difficult decision this summer to turn down a contract extension at Ibrox in favour of seeking a new route to the top. And after signing a three-year deal for Hibs, the 20-year-old is confident he can make his Premiership breakthrough – with a little help from Ryan Porteous.
McClelland, who ended a 13-year association with Rangers in the summer, was originally signed for Hibs’ development squad, But after the Northern Ireland youth international showed up well against Hartlepool and Burton for Lee Johnson’ s first team at their Algarve training camp last week, he is eyeing regular top-flight action. And with characters like Porteous leading the way, he’s confident he’s now in the right place.
He said: “Rangers is a massive club but as a young player you can get lost in that. It can be hard. But that’s in the past now and I’m here to focus on the next three years. It’s a fresh start.
“It was easy to make the decision but at the same time it was difficult. I’d been there since I was seven. It’s frustrating as a young boy. You do everything you can in training but it’s hard to try and play with Rangers.
“Trying to get through into the first team was quite a struggle. I spoke to Rangers and knew the plan – it was maybe a year extension and to go on loan and see how I got on. But I thought I’d make the call, step my game up again and try to get first team football so I did that.
“It was a no brainer, so I decided to come here and I’m delighted. This is one of the best clubs in Scotland and a great learning curve to learn off Ryan Porteous and try to do what he did.
“In the first week he made me feel welcome. I trained beside him in the first session and he spoke to me right the way through. He’s a great speaker on the park and that’s what you want beside you. I can learn a lot from him in the space of a short time.”
Porteous might be setting the example at Hibs but it was Ross McCrorie and Connor Goldson who were McClelland’s original role models on and off the pitch at Rangers. Having found game time diminishing under Steven Gerrard, McCrorie opted to head to Aberdeen two years ago.
Now he’s a Premiership regular and his game has hit a new level, pushing him to the periphery of the Scotland squad. That’s the sort of impact McClelland hopes to make at Hibs.
He said: “Ross has played loads of game for Aberdeen and hopefully that’s something I can try and work myself towards and get a decent career out of it. Ross is actually from the same area as me. I spoke to him quite a lot and he helped me right the way through.
“Connor Goldson’s probably the main one for me though. I trained with him a lot. I learned a lot – he’s commanding, his leadership, his professionalism.”
Right now it’s Johnson who McClelland needs to impress most – and he started doing just that in the wins over Burton and Hartlepool. He said: “Since I walked through the door the management have been great with me. They’ve made me feel welcome and spoken to me a lot. I’ve done extra training with them and it’s helped me. It’s a great chance for me to try and push to get into the first team, I think there’s a great opportunity here.”
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