SIZE DOESN’T MATTER
No more excuses... Uruguay are smaller than us but reached semis, quarters and last 16 in last three World Cups
Brown Ferguson claims that Scotland are still miles behind other small nations at putting faith in football’s future stars.
The 38- year- old will take centre- stage on Friday night when his Linlithgow Rose side face local rivals Falkirk in the top tie of the Scottish Cup third round, live on BBC Scotland.
But it’s his day-job expertise in the performance department of the Scottish Institute of Sport, working with world-class talent like swimmer Duncan Scott and curler Eve Muirhead, which gives him an insight into what a truly elite development pathway looks like.
Something he insists our top clubs wouldn’t recognise if it hit them on the head.
And until the authorities step in to force them, he reckons nothing will change.
The former Stenhousemuir boss – who had a 425- game career in the senior ranks – said: “I’ve done some research over the summer, I’m the same as ever yone else in my frustration with our performances at international level.
And the statistics, looking at current trends and back over the past four decades, are a disgrace.
“It started off as a small piece of work and it grew arms and legs the more I looked at it.
“It’s really looking at how incredibly limited the number of Scots playing in our top division is. It’s to try and establish why we’re not converting at the top end internationally, when other sports can. I get frustrated when I hear all the
excuses getting trotted out, blaming schools, Xbox cultures and the grassroots game.
“The real issue is the transition from potential in your late teens to first-team players. As a nation we don’t provide young players with opportunities.
“When I work with world champions like Duncan Scott or Eve Muirhead, they weren’t at the pinnacle of world sport when they competed in their first swim meet or curling competition.
“No young kid steps in ready but in football we are awful at al lowing them the chance to progress.
“The trends from 1980 to today are frightening, and it’s no coincidence that the rot sets in around 1998, the last time we made a World Cup.
“Compare it to the likes of Uruguay – 3.4mi l l ion of a population, 16 teams in their top division. They have 91 per cent home- based players, 162 Uruguayans, give or take, every single week.
“On the other hand, we’re down at 47 per cent, in a 12-team league, which is 60 players.
“So they have 100 more homereared players than us playing top-flight football every week, and that’s not counting those who have moved to play in Spain, the Bundesliga or wherever.
“And it shows – in the last three World Cups, a country smaller than ours have made the semifinals, the quarter-finals and the last 16.
“Unless there’s an intervention put in place in Scottish football, nothing will change.”
One thing Ferguson doesn’t believe is a problem is the depth of talent down the age groups, after spending the past year working with Rangers’ Academy – mainly their under-15s – before taking over East of Scotland League side Rose last month.
But until the professional game puts a plan in place to either force or incentivise their
members to put the greater good somewhere on their priority list, he can’t see it changing.
He sighed: “I’ve seen our young players at a lot of clubs close at hand in the past year.
“There’s a lot of talent, but the pressure pot leaves no wriggle room and there’s no regulation to make you play them.
“A boss would rather go for a player from League Two in England with 200 games under his belt than develop a player or sign from the lower leagues, despite the evidence like Lyndon Dykes and Scott Pittman coming from the likes of Queen of the South and Bo’ness.
“The risk of relegation is too great. We don’t do enough to protect the game or give clubs the freedom to provide opportunities. There’s just not a next step for too many.
“There were 120 signings in the Premiership this season, 35 per cent were Scottish.
“There were 35 loans, and of those 35, five were Scots. Where’s the development? Where’s the opportunity?
“Everyone has seen the direction of travel for us – if it was going to happen by itself it would have happened by now. Sadly I don’t see an obvious intervention coming.”
In Scotland we’re awful at allowing our young footballers the chance to progress