muz73
Well-Known Member
Clearly what Scottish football is doing right now isnt really working. ElFideldo will know far more about the players who are currently within club systems and whether or not there is potential there, but it's interesting to note his views on what were considered the brighter prospects over the past few years. What stops a young prospect from realising their potential? Is it something that we're doing wrong? Is it down to the player? Is it some kind of inherent flaw in our kids? What I do know is that of all the kids I've seen on loan in the lower leagues, the ones who have impressed most weren't from either Rangers or Celtic. Thats a massive concern.
Hope elfideldo doesn't mind me sticking in my tuppence worth but imho there are a number of issues with the cultivation of young players in Scotland.
The dimunition of schools football being one of the big problems. When I was young schools football was arguably the most important and thriving sphere of the game. The 'S' form system was in place but the vast majority of football was played at schoolboy and boys club level. Boys club and schools football allowed boys to play within an environment where height, build, athleticism, game management, positional awareness and teamwok was allowed to develop over a decent timeframe in teams with mostly the same players during the period.
Being prevented from playing for the school or boys club (in the early 20's tbf) also contributed to boys becoming 'over focused' on pro youth, fearing being discarded.
Altough competitive it was also a learning ground without the pressures that modern academy players face. Clubs would have the public believe, because Pro Youth 'isn't competitive until u/20 (or whatever the current format is, I've lost track)', that there is a less pressured environment for the boys to grow and flourish in.
The problem is there is incredible pressure as boys are, rightly, constantly assessed and then told if they are being kept or released at the end of each season. This becomes an extremely anxious time for teenage boys and it becomes worse the longer they stay with a club as more and more of their teammates fall by the wayside.
The horrible term 'jersey filler' starts coming into play, when the club coaches identify potential pro players but need other boys who are maybe not at the same standard or height or power, to enable the team to keep running.
I know that one club did have an agreement with a local boys club to farm out players who were potentially good but hadn't developed as much physically as the 'top boys'. I don't know of any who progressed as a result of this but I have been away from watching Pro Youth for some time.
The national side of things, as has been mentioned, was fairly political and heavily reliant on celtc primarily, then ourselves, Hearts and Aberdeen. I really believe who the head of youth development was at any given club could sway the selection process for squads.
The turnover in academy football football was remarkable, with 'provincial clubs' circling like hawks to hoover up released players from ourselves and celtc, sometimes to the detriment of existing players already on their books.
I know a lot was made of Jimmy Sinclair wanting big strong boys but this wasn't restricted to Rangers, I know for a fact that one highly respected head of youth took a good look at the parents of a boy to guage what kind of height and build he could achieve, genetics being kind.
Sorry to go on a bit, but this is a subject close to my heart having endured the trials and tribulations of the system for about 10 years due to a family connection.
WATP