Scottish football summit is well-received – but the next move will be just as crucial
For a day, the home of golf became the cradle of Scottish football as the nation’s 42 senior clubs descended on St Andrews to hear how the game’s powerbrokers plan to address more game-time for youngsters.
The Old Course Hotel was the venue for Made In Scotland?, with a day of meetings, presentations and proposals. And as any golfer will tell you, the tee shot can set you up for an excellent round. It would be fair to say that on Friday, the Scottish Football Association landed on the fairway.
The mission is straightforward for SFA chief football officer Craig Mulholland and his team. Scottish football is lagging behind other similarly-sized European nations when it comes to competitive minutes for under-21 players. And if action isn’t taken swiftly, Scotland won’t be in a position to qualify for major tournaments because development has been neglected.
Furthermore, a London-based analytics firm in the name of Twenty First Group produced a data-led analysis that surmises that Scottish top-flight clubs are missing out on £40 million per year by opting not to select academy players. Their message was simple: Scotland is an anomaly, a continental outlier.
If that wasn’t enough, Club Brugge head of recruitment Guilian Preud’homme took the floor and explained how the Belgian club have transformed themselves into serial Champions League qualifier by putting their faith in youth, and selling on their stars for big money. Rangers might have sat uncomfortably given they were spanked by them in last season’s qualifiers.
The SFA believe the domestic and national teams will benefit if more weight is given to local players. It is why they want to increase the average minutes for under-21 players in the Premiership and in the cups. Autumn will be brought in by votes for a minimum of two U-21s in teams for the Scottish and Premier Sports Cups in season 2027/28, while there are also plans for the Premiership to adopt a 60-minute average for that age grade.
The reception was “enthusiastic”, according to SFA chiefs – with some clubs asking why the changes are not more radical. There appears to be an acceptance that Scottish football is bogeying when it comes to youth development.
Mulholland is a huge driver of this and his back-story is interesting because for the best part of 20 years, he has been a club man, firstly as Rangers’ academy chief and then with Nottingham Forest as sporting director. In Scottish terms, he has gone from poacher to gamekeeper, once upon a time keen to take Scottish teenagers south of the border.
The influx of kids to England is a problem for Scottish football. Finance plays a part, but the lack of alternatives are stark. Our clubs simply aren’t creating viable pathways to first-team football. And sometimes it comes at a big cost.
The example of Robbie Ure
Mulholland used the example of the Scottish striker on everyone’s lips right now. Robbie Ure is expected to be called into the Scotland squad for the first time when new head coach Sebastien Pocognoli names his first squad a week on Tuesday. He was the player who turned down a Rangers contract when a teenager because he felt the opportunity wouldn’t be there. He moved to Anderlecht in Belgium, and then Sirius in Sweden, where his 15 goals in the opening half of this season let to Sevilla spending £9m on his a couple of weeks ago. Not one Scottish club saw a penny for the rise of the 22-year-old, a rough outcome.
Mulholland was the man Ure informed that he would be seeking pastures new back in 2023. “When I was academy director at Rangers, we offered Robbie an extended contract,” he explained. “And Robbie’s a great lad. And he’s very strong-willed in his own opinion. And Robbie knocked back the contract. I remember him saying to me about it was about opportunity, and did he believe he could come through in the pathway that we had in the country.
“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, it was part of this inside me saying ‘fair play, kid, you’re actually taking your own career in your own hands.’
“In the job I’m in now, should a young player have to feel that he’s got to leave Scotland to go to Anderlecht, to go to Sweden. And would he get that opportunity in Scotland? And the question, I suppose, for us is: 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? We need to get to where the majority do.”
Mulholland’s task is trying to take the clubs with him. The example of Ure, who played two competitive matches for Rangers, is a fair one. How many strikers have Rangers tried since 2023? There was surely a place for him.
The SFA deserve credit for addressing this. All the stats show that Scotland is depreciating when it comes to blooding youngsters in our teams. On transfer deadline week where many of our sides went into double digits with new summer signings, perhaps turning to the academy would be more prudent.
As club chiefs shuffled out of the Fife outpost where so many major sporting battles have been wagered, the SFA now have to take their next shot carefully. Each of the 42 outfits will be visited individually by the SFA ahead of the first of two votes in October. Mulholland and Co will want to avoid any bunkers that lie in wait.