by Stuart Crowther 23rd July 2002

Hibs kids will never get a better chance Youngsters given every opportunity by new transfer windows THE SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE GOT IT ALL WRONG from day 1, with a policy that on the surface appeared to provide built-in protection and encouragement for young footballers to make their way in the game but in reality blocked the path to glory for Scottish kids.  Few managers liked the fact that they had to name to Under-21 players on their subs bench, fewer still ever actually used that system to bring on youngsters in the game as clubs strove in vain to match the Old Firm. That uneven struggle is over, and while many in the game bemoan the new 'transfer window' system, there are those that can see it for what it is, an opportunity for the game to start again and, this time, get it right.  The system comes at a time when clubs have been forced into facing a new reality in any case, they can no longer afford to pay the extra-ordinary wages being asked by ordinary professionals, and so are looking to their own youngsters to fill the gap.  It is a position where SPL clubs such as Hibernian must look to smaller squads, filling injuries or suspensions with promising young players.  That might scare a few fans, it might even scare a few younger players - but it does not scare Hibs boss Bobby Williamson in the slightest! O'Connor celebrates - more youngsters like Garry will now have their chance (sns) Williamson has said often enough, and proven it by his actions as boss at Kilmarnock and more recently at Easter Road, that if a young player is good enough he will be given every chance in the first team.  And the Hibs boss welcomes the new transfer window with the same confidence as he has long since accepted the squad he has at Easter Road will not be added to via the transfer market.  "For far too long, I feel, clubs have been carrying too many players. It was frustrating for players who weren’t selected and it wasn’t a good feeling for me as a manager to have to leave good players sitting in the stand week-in, week-out," Williamson said from his hotel in Finland yesterday, preparing Hibs for their second outing in the tour this evening when they will play PS Kemi. Youngsters are likely to be given a chance in that game with Steven Whittaker looking likely to start as Williamson seeks to take another look at a player who has shown a great deal of promise so far this summer, having made his first team debut at the end of last season.  Whittaker is just one of a clutch of Easter Road youngsters who will be greatly encouraged by Williamson's words, the Hibs boss adding: "Our squad has been cut but hopefully we have the quality and strength of player to compete.  It is important that we work hard with our kids and I am in favour of the transfer windows. The changes which have been made will, I feel, be most beneficial to the kids because if they are good enough they will get an opportunity. It’s been all too easy for the bigger clubs to go out and buy a player if they didn’t have someone for a particular position." Hibs in the past have been every bit as guilty as anyone in being slow to acknowledge the fact that trying to buy their way to success could only lead to disaster.  There is simply no way that any Scottish club can hope to act in that manner now, and Williamson has clearly noted the effect recent policies have had on young players, many of whom are now long lost to the game having given up hope of breaking through.  The Hibs boss said:  "There could be nothing worse for a youngster who saw the guys ahead of him perhaps pick up injuries and suspensions only for the manager to go out and buy another experienced player and so push the kid further down the line."  Such acts will not happen at Easter Road again under Bobby Williamson, it seems, and that can be no bad thing. Meanwhile Nick Colgan will sit out the game this evening as Tony Caig takes his turn at impressing the boss ahead of the new season.  Colgan lost his No.1 shirt to Caig last season following an ordering off against Hearts at Easter Road, and the Irish international knows that his only way back into the national squad is to first reclaim the goalkeepers shirt at Easter Road - and that will be no easy task.  "Healthy competition can only be good for the club," Colgan said, adding: "but from my point of view I need to be playing first team football.  Mick McCarthy said when he left me out of the World Cup squad that as long as I was playing first team football I would be involved in the European Championship squad."  First though Colgan must be playing first team football, and standing ahead of him is Caig who took his chance when it finally came last season. Colgan accepts that there is no guarantees any more at Easter Road, saying: "If the boss thinks that Tony is a better keeper than me, then he will play him.  I want him to pick me because he thinks I am the best goalkeeper at the club, I don't want him to pick me because I would lose my international place if he did not."