Ewan Murray has blasted the shortlists for the Player of the Year awards in Scotland, describing the lack of Scots and the overall standard as “pretty grim” with Rangers represented by Malik Tillman.

Rangers’ Tillman made the cut for the Young Player accolade, days after he was named in the Premiership team of the year, with Celtic’s Matt O’Riley and Liel Abada as well as Albion Rovers’ Charlie Reilly making the list.

For the senior Player of the Year award, the Celtic trio of Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate, and Callum McGregor were named alongside Motherwell’s Kevin van Veen on the list of four.

Murray delivered a damning verdict on the lack of significant names or top-flight talent considered worthy of the annual recognition on his personal Twitter account.

“Two Scots on Scottish young player of the year shortlists,” he said.

“One of whom plays for Albion Rovers. Pretty grim.”

Far from impressed

It has not been a vintage season in Scotland, by any measurement.

Celtic led a one-way procession to the title with Rangers falling way short, whilst, at the time of writing, third-place Aberdeen are currently a whopping 29 points behind Michael Beale’s side.

The chasm between the Old Firm and the rest is another story in itself but the mundane predictability of Scottish football has no end in sight, mostly due to financial disparity.

That isn’t the full story though with the other clubs showing little signs of progress, particularly in Europe as evidenced by Motherwell’s inability to overcome Sligo Rovers at the start of the season.

Individually, there have been too few bright sparks on a consistent basis as reflected in the PFA shortlists. Whilst Rangers and Celtic will usually dominate the represented clubs, the lack of prominent Scots in their regular lineups is another cause for concern.

In other Rangers news, a World Cup winner is namechecked as Gers chiefs praised for player transfer approach.

This article was originally posted here