The Future of our Game

July 12, 2024

Anyone that knows me, will know that I'm passionate about player development.

I have been involved in football in some capacity all my life. I love the game and I love my country, but I have to admit that I concerns about where our game is at, and bigger concerns about the direction it is going.

Scotland has arguably failed to develop a world class creative player in over 30 years and we haven't qualified for a World Cup since 1998.

I was over in Germany, soaking up the tournament and watching every game. I found it embarrassing that we were the most negative and least creative team in the competition.

What frustrates me more is not enough people are asking why.

I believe that there's a lot of issues with our game right now, but it all starts from the foundations. If they are wrong, everything above is impacted.

LOVE OF THE GAME

When I was a kid, I would be out playing football nearly every day, and for up to 6 hours a day. We played on different surfaces, but mainly concrete, and used shelters, trees, or jumpers as goalposts. You would be at the pitch within 20 minutes of finishing school. You didn't ask your parents, they expected it. A couple of hours of cuppy or some other street football game before nipping back home for dinner and to watch Neighbours. After that, you were straight back out to play again. The only time the game stopped was when the ice cream van went passed. There would be a mix of age groups and abilities but it was always competitive. Everything we done was a competition. Cuppy, wally, roofy, headers and volleys and matches, you wanted to be the best. On the odd occasion it went over the top but they were also life lessons that I wouldn't change for the world. No parents, no coaches, just a group of boys and girls playing for fun!!

It wasn't all football as we also played other sports. When Wimbledon was on we'd play tennis over the school fence, we'd also play golf and created our own golf course at the public park. Invariably both would end up football tennis or football golf when we realised we weren't very good though.

Unfortunately, the days of street football appear to be well gone. We most definitely have to find a way to replicate that environment. More contact time with a ball, less pressure from coaches, more competition, and more enjoyment.

TECHNOLOGY

When I was a child, we had no mobile phones, no internet, no social media platforms, and computer consoles were just starting to get popular in my teenage years.

My generation never had those distractions, so I can't comment on what I'd be like now, but they are most definitely impacting on children today.

I have had kids at sessions crying that they want to go home and play their computer. Some are without question addicted to gaming.

Unfortunately it can be easier to look after a child that is on the computer than taking them out to play or to activities. It is also cheaper.

On a positive note, the internet has opened up the opportunity for parents, coaches and children to access material they can use to develop and improve. Most of it is also free. It's just finding the right content and using it properly.

COACHING METHODS

As above, we have instant access to coaching material through the internet, but I genuinely believe that we are now over coaching children, taking away their enjoyment and the freedom to express themselves.

In my scouting role, I regularly see coaches and parents telling kids to constantly pass the ball and shouting at them if they lose possession when dribbling. I will be honest, when I started my coaching journey, I was probably the same, but I learnt that if you continually tell a kid to pass the ball, they will never be able to dribble or dominate a player 1v1. This automatically restricts what that player can do in a game situation when there's no passing option. The other option is hoofing the ball up or out of the park once under pressure, a familiar sight in Scottish football.

From a young age, I believe the most important action is dribbling, and then recognising the decision making process of when to pass, dribble, or shoot as they get older.

From coaching experiences in Spain and Brazil, every youth training session I have witnessed is competitive and opposed. Players are provided with a game related scenario and limited guidance is provided by coaches in decision making processes and positional awareness.

Comparing methods to Scotland and you will see a lot of sessions are unopposed and/or the coach is dictating every decision. This can bring short term success but impacts on long term player development. This is the area most kids struggle with at my futsal sessions. They struggke to make their own decisions because they are so used to being told what to do.

1-2-1 coaches are also popping up all over the place, as are mannequins, hurdles, ladders, and cones. Equipment that makes the session look good on the eye with no opponent and minimal mistakes. Unfortunately we dont play against mannequins and in the real world defenders move, struggle with you, and tackle you. I've yet to see a mannequin at a youth session on my travels.

If we want more creative players, we have to start providing players with the freedom to express themselves and to make mistakes. We have to create more duals, more attacking and defending actions.

In Spain, there's a big emphasis on positional awareness and ball retention through rondos. In Brazil, it's more individual actions and creativity. You can see it in how their top players and national teams play, it's in their DNA.

STRUCTURE

I believe that this is something that we can easily change. In my opinion, we go to 7, 9 and 11 a side too early. Big pitches and bigger numbers of players is massively impacting on player development. A large percentage of kids playing 11 a side cannot do the fundamentals of dribbling, passing and controlling the ball.

The current structure benefits early developers and there's nowhere near enough contact time on the ball.

Invariably those selected at pro academies are born in the first quarter of the year. The players get about the pitch much better than others. We are 100% missing out on more technical players due to structure, talent identification, and talent selection.

If we had smaller pitches and small sided games like 2v2 and 3v3, I believe that we would automatically see different players being identified and selected at academies. I'd love to see more small sided games, more futsal and not going to 11v11 until u14.

  • u6 - 2 a side
  • u7 - 3 a side
  • u8 - 4 a side
  • u9 - 5 a side
  • u11 - 7 a side
  • u13 - 9 a side
  • u14 - 11 a side
  • Futsal at all age groups

I'd also like to see some flexibility in age groups and players playing at a level appropriate to their biological age. It's starting at pro level but that doesn't help late developers at grassroots level.

Rules such as dribble in would increase the time the ball is in play and the intensity of the game. At our futsal sessions, the vast majority of our kids prefer the dribble in rule, but do those running the game actually ask the kids what they prefer?!

A change in structure can also impact on love of the game and the more contact time players have on the ball, the more they will naturally enjoy it.

I also think there's discussions to be made on retreat lines, pass back rules etc.

LACK OF COMPETITION

We live in an environment where nobody wins or loses now. Everyone gets a trophy for turning up and everyone is a winner for just turning up.

I hate win at all costs and that being a priority over player development and there's plenty of coaches out there doing just that, but I also believe we have to have competition.

Players need to experience how to win and lose, it's life skills.

Going back to my experiences in Spain and Brazil, everything was competitive. FC Barcelona have scoreboards at training and in Brazil the kids were as competitive as I've seen.

If we have players playing at the appropriate levels there's no reason why we can't have it competitive. The biggest challenge would be coaches and parents. Some are unable to control themselves in a non competitive environment, let alone one where they win or lose. My fear would be it turning into win at all costs.

EFFORT

This one is maybe a little controversial, but I believe it's true. I am comparing our kids to those I've witnessed abroad and I hate to say it but we don't work anywhere near as hard.

It's either a lack of desire or a lack of fitness. I think that computer devices, nutritional advice, and sleep have a massive impact on this area.

I cannot recall being tired as a kid, but a large percentage are struggling during the warm up. There's a lack of intensity at sessions and games. It might be that I'm trying to compare our kids to those in Barcelona or Rio de Janiero but why can't we be similar?

I have seen a noticeable difference in effort over my last 10 years in coaching, and those that run about the most normally get scouted for pro academies.

Small sided games where the players are involved in the game more keep the kids more active, but on the flip side they also find them more difficult, with some players unwilling or uncapable of working harder.

There's a lot of coaching academies out there putting pictures of kids up saying the kids are smashing it, when I know they are not. They are either oblivious to real hard work or they are just telling the parents what they want to hear to keep them and their money coming. If we keep doing this, it's a sure way to long term disappointment.

PRO ACADEMIES

Again this is just my own opinion, but we have far too many pro academies and not enough talent to fill them. How many clubs are actually making a profit from their academy?

The Performance Schools have not been a success and the SFA must be struggling to justify their continued existence. After 12 years we should be seeing a far better product. They will use Nathan Patterson and Billy Gilmour as success stories, but both would probably have made it without the Performance Schools.

In ny experience, talent identification and selection processes are often based on the present and not potential, with short term goals prioritised over long term. As mentioned briefly earlier, a large proportion of thise in the system are born in the first quarter and are early developers.

I actually question if we are able to identify potential. Players that have the ability to improve in the future. Players that are technically good and intelligent. Intelligence is something that is most definitely overlooked.

How many clubs have a playing philosophy throughout the whole club or does it change every time they sack a manager or head of academy?

If there's no clear plan in place and we dont give it at least 10 years, how can we expect to develop better players and teams?

From u18 to first team, there's a massive gap that needs to be filled. Right now most players in their late teens go out on loan to lower division clubs and are never to be seen or heard of again.

NATIONAL TEAMS

The Scotland national squad only has a handful of players that played u17 at national level.

This highlights that we are either identifying the wrong players to play for our country at youth levels, or something is going wrong for these players not to make the next step.

Andy Robertson, recently named in the top 10 Scotland players ever, was released from Celtic for being to small and was not selected for his country until u21 level.

He has gone on to win the Champions League and English Premier League, whilst captaining his country and repressing them on over 70 occasions.

Andy Robertson, dropped levels and had the desire and effort to get back to the top, but how many could have had similar careers but lost faith in the system, lost love of the game and gave up?

Andy Robertson, John McGinn and Kieran Tierney are all players playing at the very top level, yet none were identified as being good enough to play for their country at 17.

Yes, we have qualified for the last Euros and that is progress, but the competition increased from 16 teams to 24. In this Euros, we were statistically the 24th best team in the tournament.

I don't think it should be recognised as a success to qualify.

CHANGE OF MINDSET

For things to change and improve, it requires a complete change of mindset. This is the greatest challenge and one I am not convinced we can do.

There's so much that I believe needs to change, at all levels of our game, however, if we start at the foundations, the game we love will be in a far better place in 10-20 years time.

Imagine a Scotland team that can play under pressure, builds from defence, has creative players at the top end of the pitch, and is backed by the greatest fans out there!!

Dreams can become a reality!!

CONCLUSION

Everything I have put in here is my own personal opinion, supported by some facts and experiences.

People will agree with aspects whilst others won't. That's healthy and that's life.

If we don't discuss or debate such issues then nothing will change. In 2050 we don't want to still be saying our last World Cup appearance was in 1998 and we've never qualified out of the group stages of a major competition.

chevron-down