8 hours ago
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In the shadow of the Old Course’s famous Road Hole, the fervent hope was that a first step had been taken on the path to recovery.
Once a boundless source of talent which fed so many of the biggest teams in Europe, Scottish football’s conveyor belt has slowed down.
Too many of those deemed by many to be good enough have been denied their opportunities. When that trend is seen throughout the country, the implications for the national team further down the line are grim.
The theories as to why the pipeline has become blocked are many and varied. A lack of bravery from clubs and managers, the size of the top division, even Brexit are just some of those routinely floated.
There is no simple answer to a complex problem. But with the situation showing little sign of improving, doing nothing about it is no longer an option.
Still getting used to his surroundings at Hampden, Craig Mulholland, the SFA’s new chief football officer, invited representatives of the 42 clubs to St Andrews in the hope that some common ground for a way forward could be established.
(L-R) SFA CEO Ian Maxwell, Sebastien Pocognoli and SFA chief football officer Craig Mulholland
Hoping to demonstrate that producing and selling home-grown talents makes economic sense, the SFA used the carrot rather than the stick.
Guilian Preud’homme, Club Brugge’s head of recruitment and academy, told the room that 55 per cent of his club’s £100million turnover comes from player trading. It won’t have escaped anyone’s notice that his club are Champions League regulars.
Data-led advisory company Twenty First Group also gave a presentation which underscored the futility of the current approach.
Purely from a profitability viewpoint, the top clubs in Scotland are leaving £40m on the table each year through the savings that could be made by promoting their own and a lack of sales.
Some of the figures were extraordinary: Our clubs only grow their revenue through player sales by 17 per cent. In Portugal, clubs get an additional 67 per cent.
Further evidence of the cost of not promoting youth was provided; Scottish academies offer just a seven pence return on every pound invested. Those in Sweden make £1.62 and Holland make £4.94.
A coach and horses was driven through the argument that playing youngsters is detrimental to results. A study of comparable leagues showed that there is no difference in performance when teams play home-grown talents as opposed to imports.
League size was also exposed as a red herring. Both Denmark and Switzerland have a similar number of top-flight teams. Both far outstrip Scotland in terms of minutes given to under 21s.
Croatia also outperforms Scotland in this metric despite managers there having a shorter shelf life. So much for the fear factor.
While losing players to English clubs is a fact of life, the suggestion that emerging talents here face a choice between big money down south and a pathway to the first team just doesn’t stack up. Right now, there’s no pathway to speak of.
Guilian Preud’homme, Club Brugge’s head of recruitment and academy, spoke at the event
The message was clear: for reasons only it could explain, Scottish football is choosing to be exceptional. There’s an unfortunate mindset around risk. It’s not just a head coach issue either. It’s endemic among directors, too.
Among all the doom and gloom as one damning statistic followed another yesterday, one shaft of light shone through. Things can change pretty quickly — provided there’s a collective will to do so.
If approved, the proposals which were put on the table will see all clubs compelled to play their own more often. And, rather than having something to fear, all the evidence points towards financial and performance benefits which will help them and, consequently, the national team in the long term.
‘The SFA, the SPFL, the clubs — we’re all going to have to come together here,’ said Mulholland. ‘Let’s all go and do something about this because every one of us is passionate about it.
‘We’ve not asked for another working group. We’ve not asked for another think tank. We’ve actually put a set of proposals forward.
‘There’s 31 other countries with similar rules. We’re not copying it. We’ve made something unique to Scotland.
‘I hope we don’t lose the vote because it would worry me. But at the same time, we had to lead today and listen. The mood in the room was positive.’
If it feels like a win/win situation for everyone involved, then you might ask why the clubs hadn’t worked it out for themselves already.
Given there’s a demonstrable financial benefit to playing academy players and nothing which suggests teams are poorer for it, the approach for so many years feels self-defeating.
Talk to anyone at the meeting yesterday to try and get a handle on why it’s been the case and you only got blank looks.
Representatives from all 42 SPFL clubs were in attendance at the St Andrews summit
It appears that too many smart people have bought into myths for so long. There’s been fear at play, too.
It’s all combined to create an unhealthy culture where young Scottish players don’t get their opportunity.
Mulholland can attest to this. In his previous role as Rangers academy chief, a certain Robbie Ure once knocked on his door.
‘We offered Robbie an extended contract,’ he recalled. ‘Robbie’s a great lad, possibly very strong-willed in his own opinion. He knocked back the contract. And I remember him saying to me that it was about opportunity.
‘Did he believe in the pathway in the country that we had? He didn’t.
‘You know when someone knocks back a contract? You get one emotion where you’re going, “I’m a bit angry with this”. But on the other hand, there was part of me saying, “fair play, kid. You’re actually taking your own career in your own hands”.’
We all know what followed. Ure went to Anderlecht and from there to Sirius in Sweden. Europe’s top scorer with 15 goals in the summer, he’s just signed for Sevilla for £9m.
‘Should a young player have to feel that he’s got to leave Scotland to go to Anderlecht then go to Sweden and end up in La Liga?’ asked Mulholland.
‘Look at all the top young Scottish players that are playing in different places now. Would they have got the opportunity had they stayed in our program?
‘So, these lads are proving they’re good enough. They have to leave their country to take the opportunity to go and show they’re good enough. That can’t be the case.’
Robbie Ure is now plying his trade in La Liga with Sevilla after leaving Scotland as a youngster
No one quite knows the moment when Scottish clubs seemed to develop an aversion to fielding emerging players, but it’s not always been the case. The consolation is that it can be fixed purely with a change of attitude.
‘It’s not in our DNA anymore to play young players and blood young talent,’ said Mulholland. ‘If you look at one of the countries that doesn’t have a rule on it, it’s Holland, But they don’t need a rule.
‘I remember when Giovanni van Bronckhorst was at Rangers, he kept asking me about all the young talents all the time. It was in his DNA, whereas we probably lost that a little bit as a country.
‘I’ve been at a few games with Sebastien (Pocognoli) recently and you’re seeing one or two Scottish players as all you can look at in the game.’
Having made clear the need for change and the benefits which can be had by all if its welcomed, Mulholland hopes Scotland managers of the future will have more to consider.
‘Can we succeed by changing hearts and minds and try to convince people?’ he added. ‘We hope that’s what this morning was about. But the reality is you’re probably not going to because the same myths will always keep coming up.
‘So, what we need to do is actually say, right, can we make change by changing rules, as people didn’t see how it works, people didn’t believe in it.
'And then, hopefully someday, we can take away the rules. We can become that genuine development nation that wants to do it because we see the benefit of it.’
