Dons will be 'at heart' of Scottish youth development, says Bevington

New Aberdeen chief executive Adrian Bevington believes the Dons "will be very much at the heart" of discussions over how to get more homegrown talent playing for Scottish top flight clubs. The Scottish FA have proposed financial incentives – and penalties – along with quotas in a bid to solve the problem, measures which will be voted on by clubs over the next few months. Bevington was asked for his thoughts on the subject as he faced the media for the first since being appointed to the Pittodrie post earlier this month. "I need to understand more about the exact proposals from the Scottish FA," he said. "Obviously I am aware of them generically and I have had some really good dialogue with Craig Mulholland [Scottish FA chief football officer] and Ian Maxwell [Scottish FA CEO] who are guys that I know anyway. So I am convinced that from an Aberdeen football club point of view that we will be very much at the heart of those discussions which I think is important for our supporter base." Prior to his Aberdeen arrival, Bevington held a number of senior executive roles including with the English and Welsh FAs and a number of key club positions south of the border. "Generally I am someone who has always been very committed to youth development. In my last role at Middlesbrough, and this is not all down to me for clarity, but we brought in Djed Spence while I was there and he then moved on to, via Nottingham Forest, Tottenham for a significant transfer fee. "Hayden Hackney, I think he came in his first year as a professional while he was at Middlesbrough and he has just moved on for the best part of £25m to Everton so I am very much aware of the importance in the football ecosystem that you have to develop players and if you are moving players on for a significant fee at a low cost or you have developed yourself ideally that is a really successful model for you. "But also I understand as well from a fans' point of view they love it when one of their own comes through. Look you can't just play players for the sake of it, you can't say to the manager 'you have to play that player because he is a local guy or has come through the system'. "In my opinion they have to be good enough. We have to ensure we are producing good enough quality players that can play in our first team, that get the game minutes and we have got to find that pathway with the proposals within what the Scottish FA are talking about at the moment."