Kyle Glasgow may be one of the most highly rated young players in the country, but at Alloa, the 16-year-old is treated like any other member of the squad by manager Andy Graham.
Well, except for one hard and fast rule.
“If anyone calls him Kyle Fernandes Glasgow around here, that’s a fine! We need to get him playing for Scotland,” Graham laughed.
If you didn’t know already, and haven’t deduced it by the reference to his full name, the Kirkcaldy-born wonderkid is eligible to represent both Scotland and Portugal through his mother, and has been called up by both at youth level.
It seems then that his parent club, Rangers, and for the moment Alloa – who he joined through the co-operation loan agreement between the clubs in the summer – have a real player on their hands.
Moreover, despite the hype that is rapidly building around this precocious talent, he seems remarkably unaffected by it. The footballing world may be at his feet, but according to Graham, those feet are also planted firmly on the ground.
"Kyle's a great guy,” he said.
“He may only be 16, but he's got the character of an adult for sure. He's got the mindset, that's the most important thing.
“He doesn't get bullied or kicked off the ball at all or anything like that which a lot of people would worry about. He's the exact opposite - he's more than up for a challenge. But he also moves the ball well, he travels with the ball well.
“We all know the quality he's got but it's just him going and doing that and replicating that week in, week out and having that consistency, which is what we're searching for with Kyle at the moment, because we know he's got ability. We all know that he's talent and hopefully that's what's going to take him to the top of the game.
“He's just starting out in his career, he’s only 16, but he's been a breath of fresh air and honestly, he's been a great addition to the group.
“There's a fine line between backing yourself and being arrogant, and I think Kyle's got it spot on. He's not arrogant at all, but he knows he's a good player.”
Alloa’s opponents have quickly learned that too, so much so that many are now regularly taking extra measures in an attempt to stymy his influence on matches.
"He’s got so many great qualities,” Graham said.
“For a 16-year-old, what really struck me is that physically, he's ready for it. He's got so much ability with the ball at his feet and it's just now what you add to the next level of his development, things like realising that now teams can double up on him.
“We found that against Peterhead a couple of weeks ago, they were double-teaming him. But if that's happening then there's space elsewhere in the pitch, there's another player that's free. It's about adapting to that as well.
“He's facing different challenges week in, week out but he's just adding that end product all the time. If you're going to go and play in the final third, particularly at a club like Rangers, then that's ultimately what you'll be judged on. You'll be judged on your end product.
“You can do as many good things as you want in the middle third, but it's about getting that end product from him on a regular basis to allow him to then go to the next level."
After a difficult first half in a match against Queen of the South in late August, Glasgow provided a perfect example of his willingness to adapt, and to double his efforts in an attempt to influence the game.
His relentless pressing from the front not only impressed his manager, Graham, but eventually forced an error from a Queens’ defender, allowing him to round the keeper and slot the ball home.
"That can sometimes happen in the first half of a game," he said.
“When you're working with young players, the important thing is that they're growing every week. Otherwise, they're going to be left behind. It's as simple as that.
“You need to be patient. There's going to be time when they find it tough, but how do you then try and get more out of them, how do you get the best out of them? Especially when it's not going well.
“Can you go and work hard and see what you get? Are you willing to do that other side, to chase down the lost causes, which might be the thing that some players are going to go, ‘Nah, I'm not going to do that'. Not Kyle, he'll do that. And he ends up getting a goal.
“That's what you've got to do, and it was a great lesson for him. There'll be games where in the first half you haven't played that well and that's the time you need to feel the pressure, and then you see what he's going to bring, where he's going to go and play.
“You need to have the ability, of course, but you also need to have the mindset, and that's certainly what he's got. He's very receptive, he takes things on board and goes and tries to carry that out in the second half.”
What is all the more encouraging for Graham is that he feels there is still so much more improvement in Glasgow, and that the young man himself recognises exactly what he needs to do to wring that improvement for himself, and go on to reach the very highest level he possibly can in the game.
If he continues on his current trajectory, maintains his humility and his willingness to listen and learn, his stated ambitions of representing Rangers and playing at a World Cup – hopefully for Scotland – should be well within his reach, in Graham’s view.
“There's still a long way to go with him, but that’s the exciting thing,” he said.
“It's really difficult for any young player to deal with being doubled up on, for example, when people are doubling up on him all over. It's also going for 90 minutes as well, so it's important that we're mindful of that.
“As a nation, we love to build people up and then we're very quick to knock them down. I'm really keen to avoid that because he's got so much ability and so much talent and we know that.
“But it's really important that we’re mindful that he's still got a lot of development to come, a lot of things to work on and a lot of things to improve at if he wants to go to where he wants to go to.
“From what I have seen though, there is no reason why he won’t get there.”
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