Berwick Rangers could see the benefit of having some of their players out on loan and playing rather than watching from the sidelines last season. They plan to do the same again this season which will allow Head of Youth Coaching Derek McKenzie monitor the players progress as they pick up senior experience. McKenzie said: "We’ve been inundated with managers with messages and calls for our lads. Some of those clubs do take priority as part of previous agreements, but we’re still being careful in picking who goes where. The interest in the players is high. I’m keen for them to be playing on a Saturday because I believe that if they’re spending their weekend’s not playing football then perhaps they might be undoing the physical preparation we’re putting them through instead. My coaching staff will spend some of their weekends attending games and running their eye over the lads who are out on loan playing with their men’s team. And we’ve also put measures in place to ensure that we’re getting clear communication and feedback from the staff of those clubs. We’ll expect an email on how each player has done over the previous week, both in training and in games. The lads will be allowed to train with the club’s once a week. I’ll be looking for all kinds of feedback. Whether it be on performance, attitude, or even reasons as to why a player may not have featured. Even if it’s for tactical reasons, that is information that we can work with the lads on. I’ll then go through that on a Monday and it’ll allow me to go through it and address any issues or feedback with players when I see the lads on a Tuesday."
McKenzie went on: "We felt last season we loaned a few guys out and they didn’t get a fair crack of the whip with their clubs. It was very difficult for them and also for the clubs they were with who may have already had settled teams, so we’re choosing carefully where we send our guys. We don’t want our players to have their chances limited. With the best will in the world, the young players at Berwick should be good enough to play in the teams. They’re out there to improve – I don’t think they’ll do that making up the numbers. The real advantage of the loan deals, it’s the physicality that they come up against. A lot of teams in the SPFL Development League last season had really young squads, and while it can test them in other areas; it’s not testing or preparing them well enough physically."