GroundskeeperWillie Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 As much as tonight's result will inevitably be all about Gordon Strachan (and justifiably so) I think there needs to be a focus on the very top of the tree as well. Stewart Regan's tenure at the SFA has at times been absolutely shambolic. Whether it be his comments around the time of Rangers's collapse, through to the so-called 'blueprint' for the future (which has worked out well so far, hasn't it) he has done very little to justify his continued reign in his post. You have to ask serious questions when two people brought in to carry out a clear mandate for developing future talent suddenly leave, and the qualifying campaigns at both senior and u-21 level have been little short of disastrous. Even if Strachan resigns tomorrow, whoever we bring in has little hope of resurrecting our fortunes without the support from the hierarchy, and with complete incompetents like Regan, Doncaster et al in charge we've no chance... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue manalishi Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 1 hour ago, GroundskeeperWillie said: As much as tonight's result will inevitably be all about Gordon Strachan (and justifiably so) I think there needs to be a focus on the very top of the tree as well. Stewart Regan's tenure at the SFA has at times been absolutely shambolic. Whether it be his comments around the time of Rangers's collapse, through to the so-called 'blueprint' for the future (which has worked out well so far, hasn't it) he has done very little to justify his continued reign in his post. You have to ask serious questions when two people brought in to carry out a clear mandate for developing future talent suddenly leave, and the qualifying campaigns at both senior and u-21 level have been little short of disastrous. Even if Strachan resigns tomorrow, whoever we bring in has little hope of resurrecting our fortunes without the support from the hierarchy, and with complete incompetents like Regan, Doncaster et al in charge we've no chance... What do you suggest we do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Shaun Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 Totally agree regarding Regan, oh, how we miss our ex chairman, now at UEFA or Fifa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roker Rover Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 Looking in from afar the governance of Scottish football appears to be shambolic at best, I have met Gordon Strachan and he is a straight up and down tell it like it is sort of bloke. He is not the problem and the player pool he has available to him is. The problem lies at grass roots with coaches and infrastructure etc. You are not producing the players in anything like the quantity or the quality that you did in the past and no manager, however good he may be, can change that overnight, Again looking from the outside in I see a fractured system with Senior Clubs and Junior clubs at loggerheads and everybody fighting over their own tiny piece of pitch without seeing the bigger picture. The Scottish FA needs to grow a pair and bring the Juniors into line and set up a sustainable pyramid and support coaching at all levels. If ever there was a case of too many cooks its Scottish football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XIII Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 If we're talking grass roots, then this is a major part of the problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XIII Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 Used to love coming home from school, putting on a Dons top and going to the park behind my house to play fitba. Over time the c***s adjacent to the park petitioned and complained to the council and got them to plant bushes and trees to break up the park and make it impossible to play fitba. That's the grass root problem, the Scottish mentality that if I can't enjoy something then neither can you. It's completely different here in Australia, sport is encouraged, there's plenty of parks, and plenty of them are adjacent to residential areas too. How are Scottish kids supposed to get into the sport when most of the local parks are divvied up thanks to nimbys or got no ball games thanks to the council? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itzdrk Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 Playstation. Turned the weans against us IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramagamma Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 Kids in Spain, Italy, France, Holland etc etc all play computer games just as much as British ones. An easy scapegoat but unfortunately not the real reason we are so shockingly poor at professional sport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Ferguson's Hat Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 I don't want to sound like one of these tinfoil hat wearing loonies, but our sporting decline has taken place over an eerily similar timeframe to the rise in chemtrails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyerTon Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 5 hours ago, XIII said: How are Scottish kids supposed to get into the sport when most of the local parks are divvied up thanks to nimbys or got no ball games thanks to the council? That's an issue, the lack of free facilities or those facilities being built over. We had three public 'red' pitches that the local council here decided to build a large school over the whole site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayrmad Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 If the coaches coaches are shite then the players coaches will invariably be shite and the players will be shite. If we don't get that right then there's no point in even mentioning facilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
effeffsee_the2nd Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 oh come on, weve been over this before, they don't play in the streets in England or mainland Europe either anymore. it must be something else, too many dinosaurs? old school win win win attitude at youth level instead of development? too much sweeties and crisps? shite attitudes from the players? I don't know im not involved, perhaps were just shite? about as shite as most other nations of 5 million? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naegoodinthedark Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 Our decline in decent footballers coincides with our rise in World Class swimmers, cyclists, gymnasts, tennis players etc. I watch kids teams playing at the park near my house. When you see an arsehole "coach" bawling at a 10 year old kid because he's not "tracking back" it's easy to see why they want to try other sports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayrmad Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 5 minutes ago, effeffsee_the2nd said: oh come on, weve been over this before, they don't play in the streets in England or mainland Europe either anymore. it must be something else, too many dinosaurs? old school win win win attitude at youth level instead of development? too much sweeties and crisps? shite attitudes from the players? I don't know im not involved, perhaps were just shite? about as shite as most other nations of 5 million? No, we're now shitier than most other nations of 5 million or less, I'm 50 and we've been bumping our gums about sorting Scottish football for half my life, when the f**k are we going to walk the walk? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
effeffsee_the2nd Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 36 minutes ago, naegoodinthedark said: Our decline in decent footballers coincides with our rise in World Class swimmers, cyclists, gymnasts, tennis players etc. I watch kids teams playing at the park near my house. When you see an arsehole "coach" bawling at a 10 year old kid because he's not "tracking back" it's easy to see why they want to try other sports. maybe its that, im a bit too old for youth football, don't have kids myself so don't go down and watch kids either , cant realy say if theyr good or bad these days. logic says that win win win is for adults, kids develop at different rates and playing a team to win a game at all costs rather develop skills at primary school age might be a bit pointless. I heard a man recently say that he wanted his son to just stick with the school team than join some pro youth set up he'd been invited to "cause at least hel get some medals". they pro youth teams play aw they games for f**k all" I was left thinking well of course they do they're fucking kids! is this whats happening or just anecdote ive overheard? is it youth football really so bad in Scotland? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forameus Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 1 minute ago, effeffsee_the2nd said: maybe its that, im a bit too old for youth football, don't have kids myself so don't go down and watch kids either , cant realy say if theyr good or bad these days. logic says that win win win is for adults, kids develop at different rates and playing a team to win a game at all costs rather develop skills at primary school age might be a bit pointless. I heard a man recently say that he wanted his son to just stick with the school team than join some pro youth set up he'd been invited to "cause at least hel get some medals". they pro youth teams play aw they games for f**k all" I was left thinking well of course they do they're fucking kids! is this whats happening or just anecdote ive overheard? is it youth football really so bad in Scotland? I was actually agreeing with him there until he actually revealed why he didn't want his son playing pro youth...deary fucking me. I thought he was going to say something like just wanting his son to have fun playing with his mates rather than have the fun coached out of him. But no, that would have been too sensible. I was playing 11s with work down at Drumoyne and caught the end of the first half of a youth game. No idea what kind of age group they were, but probably under 12s or something. One team were not doing well, and when the half time whistle went, their coach got them all over to the side line and bollocked them for 10 solid minutes. Not just generally either. A couple of them got dug out personally for their performances. There were parents on the other side where I was, and this seemed to amuse them, instead of repulse them. Odd, but I guess they see it more than me. The second half starts, and one of the guys gets booked for a ridiculous challenge, then chats back to the referee acting billy big baws. He gets told to leave the pitch (something the coach wasn't that angry about oddly) closely followed by one of his pals, who also chatted back. If that's what youth football is, no wonder we're shite. Win-at-all-costs mentality, bollocking guys who should be just enjoying their football, then letting them just be complete dicks on the field. What a lesson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1320Lichtie Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 Regarding facilities. Arbroath, a town of 25k, has one fucking 3G first generation pitch (the stuff that makes your skin come off) and it costs a fortune to rent. You can barely get near it in the winter and darker nights due to everybody trying to book it. When I played youth football, not long ago, we trained in the dark, dark muddy shitey fields in the winter, of course that's what always used to happen to but the worlds changed. There's more things for kids to do now (all over the world) they get their football and coaching mainly when they go to training. Sure I read that Iceland had over 300 (huge considering population) indoor football arenas that were free for kids to go and use whenever they wanted. Would cost a bit like but nothing mental to build a steel portal framed indoor pitch. Few hunner of them. Also regarding development, guy that played in my team signed for Dundee United aged 9, never seen him or played football again, strictly not allowed to come anywhere near our training or games and not allowed to play for school teams? That can't be a good thing can it? A 10 year old lad getting telt he can't play with his mates? All the football he played was training for United, can't have been overly enjoyable. Ended up getting injured pretty badly a few times for United after being a record goal scorer, left them, signed for Arbroath and actually scored a goal against Dundee ( in the challenge cup, remember that )but injuries got the better of him and he's packed it in now. Grand old age of 24. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayrmad Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 51 minutes ago, 1320Lichtie said: Regarding facilities. Arbroath, a town of 25k, has one fucking 3G first generation pitch (the stuff that makes your skin come off) and it costs a fortune to rent. You can barely get near it in the winter and darker nights due to everybody trying to book it. When I played youth football, not long ago, we trained in the dark, dark muddy shitey fields in the winter, of course that's what always used to happen to but the worlds changed. There's more things for kids to do now (all over the world) they get their football and coaching mainly when they go to training. Sure I read that Iceland had over 300 (huge considering population) indoor football arenas that were free for kids to go and use whenever they wanted. Would cost a bit like but nothing mental to build a steel portal framed indoor pitch. Few hunner of them. Also regarding development, guy that played in my team signed for Dundee United aged 9, never seen him or played football again, strictly not allowed to come anywhere near our training or games and not allowed to play for school teams? That can't be a good thing can it? A 10 year old lad getting telt he can't play with his mates? All the football he played was training for United, can't have been overly enjoyable. Ended up getting injured pretty badly a few times for United after being a record goal scorer, left them, signed for Arbroath and actually scored a goal against Dundee ( in the challenge cup, remember that )but injuries got the better of him and he's packed it in now. Grand old age of 24. Used to play in the bubble at Heriot-Watt over 20 years ago, can't ever remember getting soaked or blown to bits in there on a cold winter night, would we have played out on a dimly lit open to the elements mud heap, don't think so. How much cash have we wasted building games halls all over the country that most kids don't use/haven't used due to prohibitive pricing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the snudge Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 We need to pretty much copy Iceland. The seeds for this rise were planted by the KSí in the mid-1990s, when it began discussions on how to overcome its challenges of population and climate. The initiative bore its first fruit in 2000, when KSí built the first of a series of domed football facilities known as "football houses" in Keflavík near the country'smain international airport.[14] Eventually, a total of 15 football houses were commissioned,[12] some with full-sized pitches and others with half-size pitches,[14]with these facilities supplemented by more than 20 full-sized outdoor artificial pitches and over 100 smaller artificial pitches throughout the country.[12] All children's schools in the country now have at least a five-a-side football pitch on their premises.[14]Additionally, all of the football houses are publicly owned, making access easier and much less expensive than comparable facilities in many other countries.[15] At the same time, KSí invested heavily in training of coaches, starting a regular program designed to equip coaches with UEFA "A" and "B" licenses. The association chose to conduct all courses at its headquarters in Reykjavík, and deliberately chose not to make a profit off the courses, reducing costs for participants.[15] By January 2016, more than 180 Icelandic coaches held an A license and nearly 600 held a B license;[14] an additional 13 held UEFA's highest Pro license.[16] This translates to about one in every 500 Icelanders being a UEFA-qualified coach. By contrast, the corresponding ratio in England is about 1 in 10,000.[14] Many top clubs in the country have B-licensed and even A-licensed coaches overseeing children as young as age 6.[14]Every UEFA-licensed coach in the country has a paid coaching position, although only a small number receive a full-time salary.[15] The Iceland Football Association (KSÍ) have invested money on youth development.[16][17][18] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroundskeeperWillie Posted October 12, 2016 Author Share Posted October 12, 2016 11 hours ago, blue manalishi said: What do you suggest we do? The whole structure for me is wrong and at present the current incumbents have done very little to talk up the product (whether that be league or international football). I think we need to see whether the present structure is fit for purpose and whether the right people are providing proper representation at all levels of the game. I'm not entirely sure Mark Wotte or Brian McClair felt they had the right support from the organisation to carry out the job they needed to do in revamping the youth set ups. And rather than making progress, it feels like we've gone several steps back. At least if we heard from Regan as to where we go from here, but there appears to be a rather deafening silence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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