Regan’s steered into stormy waters
Speaking to Roberto Martinez the other day about Anderlecht v Celtic and the Belgium manager throws in an aside.
“I work with a squad of about 55 players in my head,” he says.
“Just the 55?” I ask. “Any chance of lending us 20?”
Joking aside, though, the kind of depth Belgium have as a nation and their ascent to the top five in the world rankings – to the very top in 2015 – has come about entirely by design, not by accident.
Design built on the back of finals failure around the turn of the century. Design built on the back of a slide which took them from 1970s and 80s powerhouses to a lowly 66th in the FIFA list, took their ailing league to a nadir of 17th in the UEFA coefficient table a decade ago.
And a recovery built completely on consensus and unity of purpose amongst all the stakeholders in their game. FA, clubs, schools.
All of which will sound so familiar to Scottish football fans – except the last bit obviously. The two things we’re utterly incapable of finding. Consensus, and unity of purpose
We are now 18 months down the line from the inception of Project Brave, the latest in a long line of blueprints aimed at applying CPR as our game The ots Grassro n Hampde at Awards threw up a midweek in stories of g array of ess. humblin selflessn on and the dedicati e’s winin Montros in But onal Club Professi Best richly nity was Commu the of d for a body deserve touches one work which ur in n every fo person i ity. commun their lies on the global gurney. And yet, from a meeting held at Hampden inside the past month, and an attempt this past fortnight to put the brakes on the whole thing via the SPFL, it seems we’re still a million miles away from finding a collective pulse.
Which, considering 95 per cent of the clubs agree with 95 per cent of the content and ambition of it, is a truly remarkable failure of leadership and collaborative ability.
Even the nature of the meeting tells you all you need to know about where we’re at. Seven of the Premiership’s 12 clubs were there with Stewart Regan. None of the ‘ big five’, none of the big Championship clubs such as Dundee United, Falkirk or St Mirren.
Just seven chairmen, chief execs or GMs, all with legitimate axes to grind against a project which was supposed to be designed for the greater good but which has left too many feeling they’re victims of a carve-up. That meeting ended with threats and acrimony on both sides. With Regan telling them to like it or lump it, and if they chose the latter, then he would sanction Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen,
He a r t s a n d Hibs – the clubs who tick all the criteria boxes – simply leaving them all behind and getting on with it.
An amazing statement, one which I’m led to believe absolutely outraged the normally unflappable Ross County chairman Roy MacGregor, that the chief exec of a members organisation of 108 clubs was prepared to cut the legs from all but their elite few.
A move which prompted the clubs to threaten an egm of the SPFL to garner everyone involved into torpedoing the whole show until a serious look at its obvious failings had taken place.
But once again, the ‘we’re alright, Jack’ culture of those on the inside of the tent and those wearing multiple hats with their vested interests, put paid to it.
They don’t want the boat rocked – particularly when they’re already inside with the luggage unpacked.
As we’ve said since the day we revealed the details of the first draft of Project Brave in this paper nearly a year ago, there’s nothing wrong with having standards. The whole point of going down this road is it has to aspirational, has to make us better. Otherwise we might as well not bother. The
problem is, instead of arriving at consensus on direction and degree FIRST, the way the Belgians did, then making out a plan, they did the opposite. They sat all the vested interests round a table in their working group, told them to come up with what they wanted, then tried to get it approved.ved.
So when the clubss on the working group dividedded into sub groups, thehe ones to decide thee criteria were three of the big five.
And they all just sat there and went, ‘ Well, here’s what we’ve got in terms off personnel and infrastructure – thathat should be the benchmarkmark for everyone.’
Wit hout t h i n k ing of t he consequences for everyone who didn’t have a spare million to shell out to build an indoor facility, for example.
Now we’re looking at a scenario where the five clubs everyone always knew would be there are, and clubs such as Motherwell, Kilmarnock, Hami lton, who actual ly have produced players through their systems, are being forced to try to join them at the end of the barrel of a gun, even if the consequences are ruinous for them financially.
It was supposed to enhance the development game in this country. Not obliterate it. Yet we now have at least two clubs thinking of binning their academies if the worst comes to the worst, and adopting Brentford’s model of hoovering up the best of the rejects from the elite. In among all this, Malky Mackay must be tearing his hair out. Having to come in and implement a plan which wasn’t of his making, he has already spent monthsm acting as a peacemaker,peace trying to f find ind compromises to helphe him arrive at a prp o g r amme he believesb can help him a chieve the perp formance he wantsw as a nation. Now he’s worried aboutab the tail wagging the dog. The problem for him isis, if you cut the tail off, the wholewh bloody dog dies. ThThat’st’ whereh theth lifeblood is. These clubs are where the rump of the nation’s best developmental players are. Look at Chris Cadden and Allan Campbell in the Well side who hosed Aberdeen the other night. They’re a club who’ve produced plenty over the years – do we really not want them involved because they’re short of a couple of ticks in boxes? The SFA and the SPFL both have the words Scottish and Football in their titles. At what point will either or both acknowledge that that’s their entire purpose, to serve it? Aberdeen may have well recruited middle to the summer front in column’s but this they “Lord knows need a centre-half two” at the or never start of July looked than on more true Thursday We area night. long way from January though. clubs are preparing to abandon Project Brave