SFA decades behind, claims McLeish

Former first minister blames governing body for ongoing problems in Scottish game

Former First Minister Henry McLeish has launched a scathing attack on the Scottish FA, insisting that the governing body is ‘old fashioned’ and ‘decades behind’.

Methil-born McLeish is bitterly disappointed by the lack of radical change in the game despite his review, which made 103 recommendations, leading to the publication of ‘Scotland United: A 2020 Vision’ in 2011.

That paper was released ‘with the aim of steering the national game towards a more prosperous future at all levels.’

However, the men’s national team, who are ranked 50th in the world ahead of next month’s Euro 2020 play-off semi-final against Israel, have still not qualified for a major tournament since 1998 and the age group sides from under21s to under-17s all failed to reach the most recent Euro Championships.

Only the women’s team, who qualified for last summer’s World Cup finals in France, appear to be heading in the right direction.

McLeish, whose own football career at East Fife was cut short by injury, is also frustrated that his plans for regional academies has not materialised, although he has recognised the success of the performance schools.

As far as McLeish is concerned, the SFA board must accept much of the blame for Scottish football’s ongoing problems.

In an interview with the BBC, he said: “There have been some minor successes but we really haven’t achieved the goals that were set out

“It’s a question of attitude and I come back to this point I’ve constantly stressed: the SFA structure is still old-fashioned.

“It’s decades behind and if you look at some of the more promising countries of the world, they’re going massively forward and it’s all about investment in elite talent.

“On the national side I don’t think there’s much progress been made at all. I feel very let down.”

On the issue of the men’s national team, who have had eight permanent managers – including current incumbent Steve Clarke – since Craig Brown led the team to the World Cup in France, McLeish added: “Over the last 22 years we’ve got rid of a lot of managers with no improvement in results.

“We’ve got the same board set-up where you appear as vice-president and you jump into being president (Rod Petrie became president last year following eight years as vice-president).

“It’s how things were run 40, 50, 60 years ago. This is not the way a modern game should be run.

“My basic concern is if a manager like Gordon Strachan, who I think was an excellent manager, is sacked because of the results on the field how do we hold to account the SFA president, vicepresident and the board members?

“Should they not take some responsibility for what happens on the pitch and the consequent results?

“Nobody seems accountable for the demise of Scottish international football and it’ s unfair to blame that on the managers as we have done when in fact the reasons lie in terms of institutions, attitude, ambition and a desire to see Scotland, a once great footballing country, return to that position.

“No board of any company would have a president or board members if they kept delivering failure and no matter how you look at it, we’re not making progress, it’s failure in every tournament we’ve entered since 1998.”

McLeish also believes the SFA, who has Ian Maxwell as chief executive and Malky Mackay as performance director, should take a more hands on role in developing players.

He added: “My concern is the SFA have got to stamp their authority on the game.

“They’re responsible for the national side, not the clubs and to me there’s too much of an overlap between the clubs and the SFA at this time.

“I’d like to see radical change with more people from the outside on the SFA board, fewer people from the SPFL.

“I want the SFA to climb above all of this and realise they are the prime promoters of Scottish football but they’ve got to make their distance from the clubs because national football is very different from club football.

“I think the great weakness of Scottish football is how we develop young talent.

“My concern is that while the performance schools have done their part, I wanted to see a set of regional academies introduced throughout Scotland.

“We’ve fallen back on this old idea that only the big clubs – the Rangers, the Celtics, the Hearts, the Hibs, the Aberdeens – can produce talent.”

Pictures: SNS. Henry McLeish, top, launches Scotland United: A 2020 Vision’ in 2012; Craig Brown, left, was the last Scotland manager to lead the country to a major finals in 1998.