Scottish football failing young players, says SFA

Clubs in Scotland are failing to bring through enough young players, a report by the Scottish FA has said.

The governing body says Scottish football is "significantly underachieving its potential" in youth development compared to countries of a similar size.

Using a range of data to compare leagues across Europe, it shows players under the age of 21 in Scotland are playing fewer minutes in the top flight than countries such as Denmark, Norway, and Croatia.

Meanwhile, game time for young Scottish players in major European club competitions ranks below countries with smaller populations and fewer resources, such as Montenegro and North Macedonia.

It also stresses clubs are missing an opportunity to reduce wage costs and increase transfer revenue by developing their own players.

The report was commissioned by the SFA's professional game board at the end of 2023, and a working party comprised of SPFL and SFA representatives will now consider its findings.

What are the issues?

The report, which was put together by Chris Docherty, the SFA’s head of men’s elite strategy, and overseen by chief football officer Andy Gould, was compiled after speaking to all 42 SPFL clubs and people in various roles within them.

It concludes a lack of games for academy players is down to a gap between youth football and first teams in Scotland, issues with developing players at a young age, and a lack of strategy in club boardrooms.

It claims other reasons often offered, such as a competitive league and pressure on managers, are not unique to Scotland and do not explain why the country is falling behind.

Some of the key issues offered for a lack of progress in youth development after consultations with clubs are:

• The gap between under-18s football and the first team

• A lack of strategic and long-term approach at clubs

• Lack of support for players aged between 16 and 21, including building their mentality

• Insufficient player development at an early age

• Issues with the SFA's academy criteria and organisation of the academy leagues

• A lack of rules or quotas which compel clubs to play young players

• Internal SFA processes

Motherwell midfielder Lennon Miller, who turns 18 this week, is one of few young Scottish players playing regularly in the top flight

What about solutions?

A number of potential solutions are offered in the document to each problem, which will now be considered by the working group.

Some of those include:

• Increased movement of young players outside of transfer windows so they can play first-team football earlier

• Implementation of a scholarship system to protect against cross-border compensation transfers on a player's 16th birthday, to allow players to stay in Scotland and develop

• Changes to rules in cup competitions to encourage more game time

• A review of the entire development pathway

• More help from the Scottish FA for clubs in club strategy, player development and coach education

There was an acknowledgment that other leagues have quotas and rules to force clubs to have a certain number of home-grown players in their squad, but that there is unlikely to be an appetite in the Premiership to introduce similar policies.