Robbie Ure, released by Rangers as a teenager, has earned his first Scotland call-up.
The Robbie Ure Rangers exit is back in the headlines after Sébastien Pocognoli named the striker in his squad for the Nations League games.
The 22-year-old is still uncapped at senior level, but he arrives on the back of a fine run of form.
Ure recently played all 90 minutes for Sevilla against Barcelona, underlining his rapid rise since leaving Ibrox.
It is a remarkable turnaround for a forward who was fighting for a place in the Rangers first team a little over three years ago.
Ure Opens Up on Ibrox Exit and European Journey
Speaking in the BBC Sport interview with Robbie Ure, the striker reflected honestly on leaving Ibrox at 18.
Asked whether it was a hard decision, he said: “Yeah, it was. All I’d ever known was Rangers. Going in every single day since I was probably eight years old but it was something that I felt I had to do.”
His only senior involvement in the Scottish Premiersgip came as a substitute, first in a previous clash against St Mirren at Ibrox in November 2022, then against Hibernian in May 2023.
He did start and score against Queen of the South in a 3-1 League Cup victory in August 2022.
Ure is level headed and mature about why he never forced his way into the side.
“I felt like I wasn’t good enough to play for Rangers at the time, which is normal for many 18-year-olds. It was nothing that affected my confidence. I would have loved to have stayed but I knew myself that I wasn’t going to play, which I accepted.”
That search for regular first-team football took him abroad.
“At a club like Rangers, it’s difficult for any 18-year-old to play. I needed a change of scenery and a fresh start, somewhere that I could go to play at a level that would be good enough for me at the time. Anderlecht provided that.”
From Belgium he moved on to IK Sirius in Sweden, where between April and July he scored 15 goals in 14 games, including four in a single match against Mjällby.
“At a young age it’s really important you’re playing. I was playing 90 minutes every week, getting trust from the manager and from the club. I was given time as well.
“The day I scored the four goals, it was my first hat-trick. I felt like every time I shot it was going to be a goal. I’ve not had a feeling like that before in football. It was pretty special.”
National Team Impact for Ure
Ure’s call-up comes with Scotland short of options up front.
Che Adams, Lawrence Shankland and Ross Stewart are all out through injury, while Lyndon Dykes and George Hirst have been left out of Pocognoli’s squad entirely.
That gap has opened the door for a forward who had to leave Scotland to find regular football.
Ure’s own view on that pathway is worth hearing in full.
“Everyone’s different. You have to give players patience and give them time to develop but the way to do that is, of course, playing minutes at a level where you can develop at.
“I couldn’t find that level in Scotland, so I had to look elsewhere and I’m happy that I did that.”
That’s a failing for Rangers, even though Ure was offered a contract extension to stay.
Nations League and Upcoming Timeline
Ure now links up with the wider Scotland squad ahead of the Nations League fixture against Slovenia. A first senior cap would complete a rapid journey for Robbie Ure from the Rangers academy through Belgium and Sweden to Spain in the space of a few years.
What a journey already.
For a player who once wondered if he was good enough for Rangers, the Scotland squad is confirmation that patience and a change of scenery paid off.
What happens next depends on Pocognoli’s team selection for the Slovenia away game, with further Nations League games in this period against Switzerland, North Macedonia, and Slovenia (H), respectively.
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