This week in Killie history: Charlie McArthur's exit & the other young stars who left so soon
Our new series will take a look back at events of the past relating to our wonderful football club, whether they be good, bad, or indifferent!
By Andrew Milligan
This week in Killie history is a new Killie Chronicle series where we will take a look back at events of the past relating to our wonderful football club, whether they be good, bad, or indifferent!
This week in… July 2022
Kilmarnock found themselves outside the top flight of Scottish football for the first time since 1993.
Killie fans were hopeful of a short and comfortable stay in the Scottish Championship.
While it was short, it was certainly far from comfortable!
Dick Campbell’s Arbroath pushed Killie all the way in a close title race, but Blair Alston won the league at Rugby Park in a memorable penultimate night - one club mascot Captain Conker is still trying to recover from.
And so, one abandoned game for fog, two managers, and three Ayrshire derby victories later, Kilmarnock were promoted back to the Scottish Premiership.
However, that season there was a youngster who caught the eye of fans despite only making four appearances, three of which came in the SPFL Trust Trophy (I still can’t believe we didn’t win that cup!).
His name was Charlie McArthur. A commanding, tall 16-year-old centre back and a product of the club’s academy.
On a personal note, McArthur was the first player I watched play for Killie who was younger than me - he made me feel old!
A man-of-the-match performance in his debut against Queens Park gave fans and, so it turned out, scouts a chance to see how much quality he had.
It was then announced this week, three years ago, that McArthur would join English Premier League giants Newcastle United after being named Killie academy rising star of the year. He departed for a six-figure training compensation fee.
McArthur is far from the only academy product to leave in recent years.
In 2020, Liam Smith, who was also 16 years old at the time, departed for the defending champions of England, Manchester City, despite never making a senior appearance for Ayrshire’s finest.
Then this summer, striker Bobby Wales, ironically, headed to Wales to join Swansea City.
Read more:
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It begs the question, though: what more can Kilmarnock do to keep these young prospects for longer?
Not a lot in all honesty when it comes to a financial perspective, and who can blame these youngsters who take a life-changing opportunity to receive better pay, train at better facilities, and be tutored by better coaches?
Fans would of course love to see youth academy players break into the first team and go on to play hundreds of games for the club like Greg Taylor did in the past, like Rory McKenzie continues to do, and like David Watson is doing currently.
Smith has penned a new deal at Queen of the South following a stint at Swansea City, McArthur, now aged 20, is fresh off a loan spell at recently relegated League Two side Carlisle United, and Wales will be looking to make his mark in the upcoming English Championship season under new boss Alan Sheehan.
It would be unfair to say that these moves have not or will not work out for these players, but there is a curiosity around what would have happened if these players had developed longer at the club, but we will never truly know.
We have even seen the stars of Killie’s youth cup victory, such as Cole Burke, Ben Brannan and Rueben Cooper, all attracting attention from clubs elsewhere at varying times in their budding careers in the club’s youth ranks. We just cannot catch a break!
However, Killie are far from alone in these issues, with many clubs up and down the country having their younger players snapped up by bigger clubs before they get a chance at first-team football.
In 2023/24, only half of the teams in the Scottish Premiership gave over 1,000 minutes of gametime to Scottish players aged under 21.
This could be a huge reason why youngsters in academies are not shy about grabbing a move away to a bigger club if they do not see a pathway for them to develop themselves at their current club.
It was announced earlier this month that a new cooperation system has launched in Scotland, which will allow Scottish players aged between 16-21 to move freely between their parent club and a cooperating club.
The hope is that this will maximise game time for young players to help improve their game and give them a better chance at breaking into the first team.
Whether this will prove to work or not is yet to be seen, but surely it can only be a positive for the future of Scottish football.
Despite Kilmarnock being one of the best sides at giving minutes to youngsters in recent years, there is still room for improvement, and with new boss Stuart Kettlewell known for not being afraid to play young players, hopefully, this is something we see more of at Rugby Park in the coming seasons.
We have an excellent academy, and I say if a player is good enough, then you are never too young to wear Ayrshire’s blue and white stripes.