During the three tumultuous but hugely fulfilling seasons that he spent as the manager at Airdrie, Rhys McCabe was repeatedly rewarded for gambling on young players.
McCabe, who was only 29 when he was appointed back in 2022, gave extensive game time to the likes of Justin Devenny, Kanayo Megwa, Chris Mochrie and Ben Stanway and never had any cause to regret doing so.
The rookie head coach led the North Lanarkshire club from League One into the Championship and then on to Challenge Cup glory despite his side having an average age of just 23.
The former Rangers kid, who was made Scotland Under-16 coach by the SFA last month in a major overhaul of the national youth team set-up, now believes the country as a whole can benefit from putting their faith in kids.
He is determined to play a major part in that process going forward.
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“It (playing youngsters) was never a token gesture for me at Airdrie,” said McCabe. “I suppose it shows that I don't like the myth ‘we'll go with experience’. I always asked, 'What are you experienced in?'. That's been a big thing for me, is part of coaching ethos.
"The main thing was making sure that the players were ready. We spent a lot of time and did a lot of hard work that went under the radar when it came to individual development, team development, unit development.
"When you've got younger players, mistakes are going to happen. That's part and parcel of being a young player. I've been there, I've done it, I’ve worn the t-shirt. But it's really important they're given an opportunity as long as it is on merit.
"It's easy to throw words around, but you just have to look at the young players that we played at Airdrie. We had the most debuts for young players in the country, gave the most minutes given to players under the ages of 21 and under 23, when I was there.
"But we transformed the club from a hybrid, part-time model into a full-time environment, brought in record transfer fees, clinched promotion and did something that hadn't been done in a long time and won a trophy.
"Of course you can do it. The main thing is making sure you've got the foundations and the principles in place so that you can go and do it."
McCabe is adamant that playing an attractive and exciting style of attacking football and placing more of an emphasis on performing well than getting results will help the Scotland Under-16 players who he is working with to grow in confidence.
"I've got firm beliefs in the way that I think football should be played and want football to be played,” he said. “Put in layman's terms, I want to sit down and be entertained when I watch a game of football, first and foremost. It's an entertainment sport.
"Working with the underage players, the younger players, we want them to feel positive and to have a sense of freedom. It is important they have courage to go and play and not worry about what the outcome may be if they're trying to do the right things.
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"Ultimately, it's about giving them that freedom within a structure to go and learn and make mistakes. Ultimately, our job is to prepare these guys for if that moment comes to get to 19s, to 21s, to first team. That is our job.
"We've got to make sure that all these experiences they've learned, they've gone through the experiences, they've made their mistakes and they've come out the other end of it before they get to that level.”
McCabe was pleased to see Kyle Glasgow, the Ibrox youngster who is on a cooperation loan at League One outfit Alloa this season, make his debut for the under-21 side during the international break despite being just 16.
He believes that seeing midfielder Glasgow, who came on in the second half of the European Championship qualifying win over Azerbaijan at Rugby Park, will inspire his contemporaries and lead to more talented prospects moving up the age-group ranks in future.
“It probably would have been easy to include Kyle in the under-17s or the under-19s and think that is just a natural step,” he said.
"But he's performing really, really well in a first team environment. He's contributing. He's doing exactly what's asked of him. Why should he not be rewarded? Of course he should.
“He's out on loan and he's playing competitive men's first team football at a really good level. He's not just there to make up the numbers. He's contributing and he's playing really well.
"So he was rewarded with that call-up. He should be rewarded because now players across the country are looking and trying to emulate what he's doing.
"So that's got to be something that we drive. If it's a player who's 16 representing the 19s or if it's someone at 18 going up to the 21s, that's what we'll do.”
SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell admitted that he was both surprised and disappointed at how few quality Scottish candidates there were for the national team manager’s job when Steve Clarke stood down in June.
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Maxwell admitted the governing body, who brought in former Belgium full-back and ex-Royal Union Saint-Gilloise and Monaco manager, would endeavour to rectify that in the seasons ahead.
Giving McCabe the chance to work with the country’s outstanding prospects is clearly part of that process and the man who learned his trade at Auchenhowie as a youngster is hopeful he has much to offer in the seasons to come.
"I know how hard I work at it,” he said. "I have had sleepless nights. But that goes back to the standards that I've been brought up with.
“I had the whirlwind of promotion. Then I faced a little bit of adversity when we lost players and we had to rebuild a squad. Football is a rollercoaster. There's plenty of ups, but there's far more downs.
"The big thing for me was learning from the experiences I didn't like and the things that didn't go well trying to be a better coach moving forward.
"We want to improve everything, not just players getting more minutes in a first team environment or a national team. We want to improve everything as an organisation. So I'm really excited to be part of it.
"One thing I do like is the fact that Sebastian [Pocognoli] has worked in different cultures and in different countries and has gained experience in different things.
"We're probably a bit limited in terms of where we're actually going and learning. So we've got to be a bit more open in terms of how we're going to develop as coaches.
" I'd like to think that further on down the line, years down the line, we've got more coaches and more managers learning their trade. The end goal is to produce players, but ultimately coaches as well. They go hand in hand."
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