IF the hours are put in and the tests are passed, the Auchenhowie alumni will have new members making the grade year on year in Light Blue. For Rangers, the teachers are as important as the students.

It is the likes of Ross McCrorie, Jamie Barjonas and Ryan Hardie that are attempting to earn pass marks at Ibrox this term as they look to make the transition from promising youngster to established first team player. But the system that will produce the next generation of Gers could also mould a future coach or manager.

Graeme Murty has a key role to play in shaping the futures of those under his guidance at Under-20 level but he also has scope to progress on a personal and professional level.

After stepping into the first team dugout earlier this year, Murty is now in his second stint as interim boss following the departure of Pedro Caixinha.

And Senior Academy Manager Billy Kirkwood reckons another temporary move up the ranks will stand the 42-year-old in good stead going forward.

“Of course he enjoyed it the last time and from Graeme’s point of view it was a great learning curve for him,” Kirkwood told SportTimes.

“His objective is to progress as a coach. I have been a manager, I have been assistant manager.

“Craig and I have discussed this before that we want the Rangers Academy to be well looked upon in terms of producing players. But we also want the Academy producing coaches and we have done that.

“Graeme has shown that he is at a good level and he can handle the first team.

“He will get a bit more exposure in terms of that now and then he will come back down and put that to good use, I am sure, to benefit himself, the other coaches and most importantly the players as well.”

Murty was in charge for six matches earlier this year as he assumed power from Mark Warburton and then handled the transition into the ultimately short-lived Caixinha era.

He returned to the touchline against Hearts on Saturday and will remain at the helm until the Ibrox board have completed their search for the next Light Blues boss.

Kirkwood said: “He has had that experience before and Graeme will handle that.

“He has brought some good experience back into the squad as well, the likes of Danny Wilson and Kenny Miller, again. That will definitely help him because you need that experience on the pitch.

“That is his ambition. I am a bit older now and I have done that.

“I started off here many years ago and I got the opportunity to leave here and go and manage Dundee United.

“You are looking at this club to produce players, but also to produce good coaches, and the environment we have got here means we can do that.”

His focus may have switched once again in recent days but Murty will still have one eye on the Auchenhowie youth ranks as he prepares for the visit of Partick Thistle this weekend.

The Development Squad boss has been tasked with bringing the next generation of first team stars through the ranks as the Gers look to produce their own talent.

Kirkwood said: “It is a baptism of fire for Graeme but he relishes that and he has got a lot of backing from the coaches in the youth department and the backroom staff at first team level.

“Stevie Walker, for example, was the physio for the youths for many years and he has progressed to that level as well.

“It is great for these lads to be there because the likes of Ross McCrorie, Jamie Barjonas, Ryan Hardie have had them all the way through so it is nice for them to see a friendly face there.

“The be all and end all for the Academy at any club is to produce players for the first team and that has got be our aim here.”

Murty spent most of last week preparing for the meeting with Liverpool as Rangers hosted the Reds in the latest match of the new games programme for their second string.

But it was Kirkwood and Head of Academy Craig Mulholland that took the team against Steven Gerrard’s side as Murty geared up for the trip to Murrayfield.

Rangers suffered a 4-1 defeat to the Kop kids but Kirkwood believes it was still a valuable exercise for an inexperienced Light Blues line-up.

He said: “It was a difficult night for us but that is why we take these games.

“It is always going to be difficult but the fact that they were playing Liverpool and playing at Ibrox will benefit them.

“Liverpool had a lot of possession and it is a steep learning curve for the lads. I thought in the first half they found it difficult and we tried to say to them to take responsibility and they had to handle the one v one situations in terms of a cross, a tackle or a trick.

“They need to look at the game back, look at themselves and say ‘could I have done better in these situations?’”

It was to prove another steep learning curve for Rangers as they suffered their third home defeat of the season following the losses to Brighton and Leicester in recent weeks.

But Kirkwood insists the matches will prove worthwhile if the Ibrox kids learn the lessons from being tested against a higher calibre of opposition.

He said: “That is why we take them. There would be no point in winning games 5-0 or 6-0 all the time.

“We have taken these games to deliberately test the lads, to try and fast-track some of the boys and, on a positive note, you had Ryan Hardie, Jamie Barjonas and Ross McCrorie with the first team.

“I thought Serge (Atakayi) had a really good second half, I thought Zak Rudden put in a lot of effort without getting a reward for it and I thought Cammy Palmer and Stephen Kelly did really well in midfield. It is good in that sense.

“If you look at the results we have had here, it is disappointing but we have got to look deeper than that and say ‘could we do better individually?

“Are there players there that can progress?’ And we think there are.”