FOOTBALL continuously changes and evolves but one thing has and always will remain the same.

Players need to play. Young players in particular can’t afford to waste too much time in the reserves when their development relies on them learning how to play in a proper match.

If this means going out on loan then so be it. If it means moving on, and even downwards, just to get a regular start then it must be done.

This goes for any 18-year-old at a Premiership club whose path to the first-team is blocked by half a dozen ahead of them and also Rangers winger Barrie McKay who is not so much out of the picture at Ibrox but outside the gallery.

There are bigger tournaments than the Irn-Bru Challenge Cup but the format gives the chance for the Premiership clubs’ colt players, those under the age of 20, to face experienced pros who tend to be rather good at dishing out harsh lessons.

Helping out with the draw was Pat Nevin who believes this is a positive move forward.

He said: “I am a stunning fan of it. That isn’t a line. This is really brilliant news. You need younger players who aren’t getting first-team experience to get first-team experience somewhere. I am the classic example of that.

“I was at Celtic and at 16 they said I wouldn’t make it. That was fine. A lot of the players who were there at the same time as me were kept on but I went away and played with Gartcosh Boys Club for a while and then Clyde picked me up.

“Within two years I’m in Chelsea’s first team. Why? Because I’m in the Clyde team, I was straight in there, and I learned the game, I understood quickly what it was about.

“I learned that you can make mistakes but they will cost you. I learned that every game counted and had to be taken seriously. I looked back at the kids kept on at Celtic and wondered where they were.

“They were trying to punch into the Celtic team – and it wasn’t Celtic’s fault – it’s just the way it was.

“The way it is now, clubs use the loan system which happens a lot down south. Look at Chelsea. All the top clubs know it’s a problem. In Spain they have their reserve teams playing in a lower league. So there are different methods and what we have here in Scotland is a good start.”

As for McKay, Nevin hoped his fellow winger would not repeat a mistake he once made which more or less deprived him of football for a whole season.

He said: “The advice is the simple advice for any player. If you are not getting first-team football somewhere, get it.

“You fight and battle for your first-team place, especially if it is Rangers and you think you have a chance. But there is a downside to that. I made the mistake once. I stayed too long one place trying to show a manager. I didn’t matter how good I was, he didn’t rate me.

"A year is a long time to lose when you're young."

McKay has been told to train with the Under-20s which is both embarrassing and a sign that Pedro Caixinha is no fan.

Nevin said: "I think you have to take that on board that it might be a message you seriously consider short-term.

"What I would advise anyone to do is communicate as much as possible. I think football is an industry where people are usually straight with you. You will be told: 'Yeah, you’re not my type.' So you can get moving on.

"It happened to me at Everton when a new manager came in and I wasted a year, saying I’ll show you I’m a good player.

"It didn’t matter how good a player I was. So I wasted a year. And I still think about it. I still played a lot of games but I was a sub a lot. I shouldn’t have done it."

McKay is a talent and Nevin does feel for the 22-year-old.

He said: "Every winger wants to play No.10. The reason? You could be in world-beating form, but if you don’t have the ball at your feet you have no chance.

"Sometimes on the wing there is nothing you can do if you are asked to stay wide. I had managers who said if I moved in they would substitute me, because they needed to create space and width. I understand that.

"So it’s not as simple as saying he doesn’t affect games. Give the guy the ball in the right areas and I am very confident he can affect games against the vast majority of sides.