Scottish FA warn of 'crisis' but will rescue plans get required support?

When Craig Mulholland addressed representatives of Scotland's 42 football clubs at a summit in St Andrews on Friday, he used the word "crisis". The Scottish FA's chief football officer concedes the term might be a little overdramatic right now, but warns it won't be in 10 years time. Change is needed now to prevent Scotland being shut out of major finals again and our stop our clubs floundering in continental competition, their research shows. The Scottish FA have proposed plans to offer young Scottish players far more first- team exposure, including two under-21 players starting in cup competitions and the same age group playing a minimum of 6% of all available minutes across a season in league competition. But why is this happening now? What will be the consequences if things don't change? And is this just the start of a plan to revive Scottish football's fortunes? SFA proposes youth quotas along with financial incentives What is the extent of the problem? Comparisons across the European leagues - with particular focus on comparable countries - shows that under-21 players simply aren't getting enough minutes in Scotland. And year-on-year it is getting worse. The outcome is a dwindling pool of Scottish talent, minuscule player trading revenue versus similar size countries, and fears over the long-term outlook for the national team. "We need to act now and act quickly, otherwise our national team has got a problem," Mulholland said. "In the Scottish FA, we see what's coming round the corner. "At the moment we're an outlier. There are 31 countries in Europe that have rules that encourage their young players to play. Every other country of our size is generating significant player trading revenues. We're not, we're bottom of that list. "We've got so many young players going down to England. We need to try and stop that. Am I concerned? Yes. "We used the word crisis in the presentation [to clubs]. Is it a bit dramatic for now? Yes, it probably is. Will it be dramatic if we look at what at our World Cup squad looks like in 10 years time? Maybe not. "If we want to protect Scottish football for our future we need to go and act now." What will be consequence for national team? On the face of it, qualification for the last three major international tournaments under Steve Clarke would suggest all is relatively well at that level, albeit the performances having got there has been consistently disappointing. So what's the consensus within Hampden Park about Scotland's outlook at that level? "The big driver here is to grow our clubs, grow revenues," Mulholland explained. "The by-product is the Scotland national team. "If we look at the groups that have qualified for the last three tournaments and the number of minutes that John McGinn and Andy Robertson, all these lads, were playing in our league 10 years ago... if we compare that with now, I am scared of what 10 years' time looks like. "Our ambition needs to be to get out of group stages. But we could slip back to a point where we're not qualifying, and if we lose the money from World Cups and European Championships we end up in a worse space." Will proposals get enough support? The immediate reaction of clubs seems to have been positive. But the proof is in what happens next and whether these proposals are supported in practice. "It was a positive reaction," Mulholland said when asked how representatives of teh 42 clubs reacted to the presentations. "We wanted to paint it as an opportunity not a negative. Many, many clubs have been supportive and many have asked why not go further?" The Scottish FA plan to meet with clubs individually in the coming weeks before their AGM in October, where the issue of Scottish Cup rule adoption can be addressed and is expected to be voted through. The following month, the SPFL AGM takes place, where adoption of the regulations for the Scottish Premiership and League Cup next season will be discussed. But change there requires 11 of 12 clubs to vote in favour. A tall order. "I'm not naive," Mulholland said. "It might not be pushed through but we will work as hard as we can to do something because the young Scottish player deserves it. "Hopefully our clubs have left feeling positive about where they can go and also that the SFA are leading. "If it doesn't work at least we can turn round and say we've stepped up, put a proposal forward that's well researched and lets go try and do something that changes our country." Is there room to be more radical? A big question that seems to have emerged from some clubs is the idea of why not go further faster? "Nothing is off the table," Mulholland explained. "We would like to have gone further but have to find a balance that works for our clubs. We went with this because we think this is the most important first item. "What we need to do is say league reconstruction, B teams, everything else, it needs to stay on the table and we come to that as part of Scottish football elite player development plan which we'll try and complete by the end of the year. "Whether that be reserve teams, B teams [in the senior structure], whatever that looks like, we need to reshape that space because right now it's not fit for purpose." So what else beyond that may follow or be considered? The number of foreign players being recruited by Scottish clubs clearly limits domestic opportunities, while very young players are increasingly being snapped up by English clubs. Part of the solution is to demonstrate a clear pathway to young players and their families that looks increasingly limited right now. Visa rules to recruit foreign players are less stringent in Scotland, meaning foreign markets are more open to be exploited. Is that under consideration? "If Motherwell can take Elijah Just and get that level of money [on seliing the player] then it absolutely can be a good thing," Mulholland said. "However, if we look at the data of the number of foreign players that then sit on a bench that don't actually play, the answer is no. "It's not something we're looking at right at this minute but it's very important we get these rules through to get young Scottish players opportunity. That's another thing we might need to look at in the future depending on the outcome of this."