For Jimmy Sinclair, losing is a greater sign of success than winning. Rangers' head of youth development has lost handsomely this season. JohnFleck has made his vaunted breakthrough to the first team and has been joined on his journey of self-discovery by DannyWilson, Jamie Ness and, most recently, Andrew Little.

Others have taken a more circuitous route to prominence at Murray Park. Rory Loy, Jordan McMillan, Steven Lennon, Andrew Shinnie and Georgios Efrem have all been sent out on character-building work experience across the country, with the pledge that they will be given a fair chance to re-establish themselves at Rangers after what is anticipated to be a seismic summer of change.

Sinclair will eschew his own philosophy for one night only when his under-19 side meet the newly crowned Clydesdale Bank U19 League champions, Hibernian, in the Scottish Football Association's Under-19 Cup final at Hampden Park tonight. Prodigious talent covers only part of the remit for Old Firm prosperity. For all the painstaking education - technical, physical and psychological - conducted on a daily basis amid the thrum of excitement at the Rangers academy, Sinclair's latest batch of aspiring talents will take a step into the unknown with only their instincts for guidance.

The prize has rarely been greater. "There is no better time to be a young Rangers player," says Sinclair, predicting a more inclusive climate borne out of financial necessity. WalterSmith, the first-team manager, has already declared his intention to chisel his squad to 18 senior players and fleshed out with the freshest youngsters available next season. Tonight represents the ultimate audition.

"Guys like Fleck are a clear example of what is now attainable,"

says Sinclair. "The better players, or the ones showing most promise, are around on a daily basis to train with the first team, so it becomes a tangible target. It is well documented that, in the summer, the manager will make strides to reduce the first-team pool and everybody is conscious of the impact that will have on the youth set-up.

"It puts a but more pressure on us to produce, but it is preferable to doing our jobs and not having kids get an opportunity."

The consistency of output at Murray Park has long been a bone of contention among observers and punters alike. Constructed as a facility that would reduce, and eventually remove, the need to import at unsustainable cost, only now is it being utilised in accordance with those founding principles.

In the current climate, Sinclair and his coaching team are arguably the most important men at Murray Park. Hibernian may have won the under-19 league, ending two years of dominance by Rangers, but it is the pursuit of a grander and more enduring prize that motivates Sinclair.

"You want to win but what is more important: winning the league and cup or watching your boys make the breakthrough to the first team?" he asks rhetorically. "In a way, seeing Fleck in the starting line-up, Danny Wilson in the squad and Andrew Little getting 10 minutes in the Scottish Cup semi-final are trophies.

The bottom line is we have to produce players for the first team and you are judged on that; cup finals are a means to that end.

"I am judged on a different forum, whereas managers in the first team are judged entirely on success."

The emergence of Fleck as the new poster boy for Murray Park, a beacon ofhope to his contemporaries, brings with it a sporting dilemma.

The 18-year-old has the ability to turn the match on his own tonight but, having experienced the thrill of first-team football, it has been deemed that yo-yoing to suit others would be counter-productive. He will not feature, despite the temptation, and Sinclair has others he hopes will flee the nest before much longer.

"We want to win the trophy, but we appreciate the difficulty in asking a player who has been in the first team to come back to under-19s again," says Sinclair. "It is not that he wouldn't want to, but our priority for John is to continue his development and that is best served by focusing in the first team. It is the same for Danny Wilson and Jamie Ness. I hope they are gone from the youth department next season because it is important they progress.

"I am confident they will be first-team players, not instantly but in time. Iftheyare at Hibs or Motherwell, they can come in and make an error or two and the reaction will not be as violent. I am a lot more optimistic on Rangers' future than some people on the outside would be speculating on the financial side of things."

Smith, Ally McCoist and Kenny McDowall may make a brief appearance in the dressing room prior to kick-off to deliver final words of encouragement. "Just by being there they are giving their support to the boys and that means a lot to them," said Sinclair. History has taught him to be open-minded when identifying the next generation of Rangers' homegrown players.

"These players will experience conditions that can't be taught at Murray Park," he says. "They will walk out in front of Hampden for a cup final with all the new pressures and expectations that brings. They played the semi-final at Ibrox and had to deal with a new tension and environment. We have been lucky enough to be involved in cup finals for the past three years and it can surprise you. Some kids you thought were strong and could handle anything proved the opposite while the converse applied to others who found their feet in that kind of atmosphere."

No education is complete without warning of the perils and pitfalls ahead. This season, the indiscipline of Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor not only presented a problem to a manager guided by his principles but to an academy whose very foundations are based on respecting the values of the club at all times.

"Unsolicited, the manager has come in and addressed the kids about the importance of representing Rangers and how to conduct themselves," Sinclair reveals, "and I would like to think they demonstrate that discipline in here every day to the standards we are trying to set. They are left in no doubt as to what is expected and the consequences of falling short of that."

They are well aware, too, of the rich and unprecedented possibilities ahead. Supporters can pay at the gate to attend tonight's Youth Cup final at Hampden Park, with tickets priced at £5for adults and £2 for children and senior citizens.