Premiership bosses must follow Sir Alex's blueprint

The Herald Scotland

2 days ago

The men behind a new club-operation system for the SPFL cite the most successful Scottish manager of all time as the best example of a coach who proved that it's not only possible to win by playing kids. It's also possible, with strategy and bravery, to win by playing kids born and raised in Scotland.
'The great irony of those comments were that the manager Alan was talking about was Scottish, arguably the most successful manager in history and wherever he has been successful has been based on giving young players first team minutes,' says Chris Docherty, co-author of last year's SFA Transition Report on the dearth of first team minutes for academy footballers.
Recent figures from CIES Observatory show that St Mirren offered just 0.8% of their available first team minutes to players aged 21 or under this season. Celtic were second bottom with 7.8%, Aberdeen slightly better with 7.9%. Rangers made it to 13.6% while Dundee had the highest figure in the SPFL Premiership with 24.8% of first team minutes given to players in the key 16-21 transition phase.
'I saw an interview with David Beckham recently where he said that when he bought Inter Miami and asked Sir Alex Ferguson's advice on building a club he told him that the most important thing was the academy and bringing through your own players,' adds Docherty.
'Alex Ferguson wasn't worried about relegation. He brought young players through at Aberdeen and Manchester United because he felt that it could elevate the teams to be the best in Europe. Which they were.
'Look at when Celtic won the European Cup and it was all Scottish players. Look at Rangers and Aberdeen and Dundee United when they were punching above their weight in Europe and it was all Scottish players in the team.
'Clubs will say that the quality of the young Scottish players is not the same as it was back then.
'Some people even blame the invention of the ipad. But the ipad exists in all countries such as Spain where young players are coming through in healthy numbers.
'The question is, then, what can we do differently to improve the level of Scottish players coming through?'
From June 16 clubs in the Premiership and Championship can sign agreements which allow young players to move from one club to another and play games with flexibility, freedom and fewer restrictions.
Based on studies of similar systems in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia, the think tanks of old were replaced by data and fact-based evidence in a quest to find a way to increase the playing time of young Scottish footballers.
Already Celtic are talking to Queen's Park and Rangers with Raith Rovers. Dundee United want to link up with Montrose while it makes geographical sense for Aberdeen to work with Arbroath and Cove Rangers and Hearts to speak with League Two Spartans.
In Scottish football clubs rarely agree on anything. A system which helps clubs in the top flight as well as those further down the pyramid – and the national team – cooperation agreements brokered a rare accord
An acknowledgement that Scotland needs to give young players more opportunities to play first team football without the restrictive impositions of the loan system.
When the summer transfer window opens transition players will be free to flit between their parent team and their cooperation side freely. The current under-18 league will also become an under-19 competition with overage players permitted to pit the youngsters to up against men. In a simple, yet logical move, the games will be moved from Friday to enable young players to sit on a first team bench on a Saturday or Sunday and still play a game of football on a Monday.
'Through a period of consultation with league bodies, internally and with clubs across the pyramid, we are now ready to go,' says SFA Chief Football Officer Andy Gould. 'The vast majority of those consulted are in favour of this and have backed it.
'We have done a body of work, using a strong, evidence based approach and data, had a strong consultation phase and come out with a system which the game has bought into.
'The first thing was to demonstrate that there was an issue and show what that issue looked like and then have a conversation about why that was happening. That then takes you to the solutions.
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'Through conversations we realised that there was a bit of excitement and buy-in to this system. And we began to understand how this might work.
'There is a lot of work ahead but we want to make a difference in the game. We want to see young talent getting an opportunity, that's our business.'
Eighteen months in the creation, Docherty describes the system as a 'landmark' moment for the Scottish game. All 42 clubs were consulted and, in a rare state of affairs, the interests of Celtic and Rangers seemed to align - for once - with those of Stenhousemuir and East Fife.
Old Firm youngsters retained for UEFA 'homegrown' squad purposes will now be permitted to play first team football for another cooperation partner. Clubs with smaller squads need worry no more. If they need fringe youngsters back at short notice now, there is nothing to stop them. If a young player goes out in search of games and the arrangement doesn't work they can return home quickly and easily and be replaced by someone else the next day.
A former technical consultant for the Croatian Football Federation and Hadjuk Split, Chris Docherty was also the sporting director of Honved of Budapest. His overseas experience told him that something in Scotland had to change.
'There is a pattern in all the small nations that are successful.
'Spain are the top nation in the world and they have B teams playing in the system.
'B teams is one model, the co-operation system is the other model.
'I don't think you will find many countries successful in developing players that don't have any model at all.
'B teams was not an acceptable system for our clubs. So we knew that the co-operation agreements was the one most likely to work when we got the feedback from the clubs.'
Progress takes time and the results of the system are unlikely to be instant. One thing which won't change is the size of Scotland's top flight. While many harbour a suspicion that a 12-team Premiership makes it too risky for the job prospects of managers to field raw, untried youngsters the latest reconstruction talks between clubs voted to retain the status quo. Docherty remians to be convinced that the issue makes much difference anyway.
'I have worked in two countries with a more competitive league structure than Scotland.
'Croatia has a ten team league and Hungary has 12 teams with two automatic relegation places and there were more young players getting minutes there than here.
'I also used to work at Hadjuk Split and this season they were competing until the final matchday with a chance to win the league.
'They had a serious number of young player minutes there are and that comes from the strategy of the club.
'Because we have not had clubs following that model we haven't seen the benefits. This system gives Scotland an opportunity to change that.'