MOST young footballers in Scotland can only dream of playing for a club like Rangers.
But joining one of Glasgow‘s big two isn’t always what’s its cracked out to be.
Rory Loy during a Rangers training session in 2010[/caption]
He finished his career at Dumbarton[/caption]
What turns out to be a life-changing move for some ends up more often than not being a nightmare spell for others.
And former Rangers youngster Ally Loy has admitted he was one of the many who found himself in the second category while at Ibrox.
Loy joined Gers at the age of 18 from Kilmarnock in 2006 after impressing in the Rugby Park youth ranks.
He was tipped to have a bright future in Ayrshire and was on the cusp of the first team at the time but he was swayed by the lure of Rangers.
It’s a move he regrets to this day though as he featured just TWICE for the first team in four-and-a-half years before eventually sealing his permanent exit to Carlisle United in January 2011.
It was legendary boss Walter Smith who gave him his Gers debut as a substitute in a 5-0 victory over Inverness in November 2008.
His next and final appearance for the club was another outing off the bench two years later as Gers thrashed Motherwell 4-1.
Loy, who now works as a pundit and commentator for BBC Scotland, reckons moving to Ibrox all those years ago was one of the biggest mistakes he made in football.
Reflecting on his career six years on from his retirement from the game, Loy now wonders how his career would have turned out if he stayed at Kilmarnock instead.
He also reckons he was a “victim of the system” while trying to break through at one of the nation’s biggest clubs.
Speaking on The Warm-Up, presented by William Hill, Loy recalled: “I had a meeting with [Kilmarnock manager] Jim Jefferies and my agent. I was so easily influenced.
“I was 18. My agent was in my ear saying, ‘Go to Rangers’.
“My family don’t have a footballing background. I look at Lennon [Miller]. I’m good friends with his dad.
“It must be amazing having a dad who can handle these situations because I didn’t have that.
“I’ll be honest, looking back at my full career, looking at the likes of Scott Arfield – I’m not saying I would have got to the levels Scott Arfield got to – but I certainly think, if I was at a Kilmarnock or a Falkirk, I probably would have racked up 100 appearances before I was maybe 20, 21.
“I go to Rangers and I’m number 59. So many promises are made and you go in and the (rest of the) Under-19s are given the same promises.
“So, if I could go back to one moment in my career, I would go back to that moment and see how it would have turned out if I had stayed at Kilmarnock.
“I will be honest, mentally, I probably wasn’t strong enough at that point. Whereas, if I’d had 100 appearances for Kilmarnock… I just think I was a victim of the system, like a lot of boys are.”
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