McGregor is set to start
MALKY MACKAY could show Aidy Boothroyd a thing or two about stirring European occasions at Celtic Park. So he did. The Scotland interim manager carted the England Under-21 coach around on quite the Champions League tour of Glasgow, pressing the flesh with Dermot Desmond, Peter Lawwell and Brendan Rodgers before and after taking in the breathless action against Bayern Munich.
It’s Mackay who would be envious, however, of what can be found on Boothroyd’s doorstep if he couldn’t pluck one theme from the environment his former Watford coaching colleague enjoys at the Football Association.
Mackay is caretaker manager of the national side, having temporarily shelved concentration on his performance director work to take charge against Holland on Thursday in Aberdeen.
He declares himself happy to be part of the process leading to a new permanent manager, if asked by the board.
What is not up for negotiation is Mackay setting the tone for culture at all levels right up to the senior set-up from now on — irrespective of who is the successful applicant.
Mackay believes he must have a buy-in for each of his projects behind the scenes from the new appointment. Boothroyd, who guided England Under-20s to World Cup glory in South Korea last summer, would vouch for Gareth Southgate on that front.
Mackay already has plans to plug a ‘gap year’ at Under-18 level in the pathway towards the ‘A’ squad, is forging a link which will see age groups all the way to the seniors play friendlies in Morocco against nations from around the globe and intends to be hands on in establishing his top-class backroom people and facilities for the next regime aiming for Euro 2020.
When asked how important it was for Gordon Strachan’s replacement to embrace the performance director’s vision, Mackay said: ‘That is huge. Aidy is a good pal of mine and he sits in the same office as Gareth Southgate at St George’s Park.
‘I had a good chat with him concerning it because you just have to look at their youth teams right now. What they’ve done is sensational. Their big problem, as we all know, is where it goes from there. Who cares?
‘But there is a pathway there now. You can see a joined-up way of thinking that actually wasn’t there before Gareth to an extent, for whatever reason. I want us to look at this whole pathway.
‘So we can get them, let’s say, from performance schools at 12 or, actually, Primary Sevens because that’s where the trials happen and that has to be better.
‘Then we’re actually keeping an eye on them and monitoring them with their clubs all the way through to the 16, 17, 19s.
‘There is a gap at the 18s that has been exploited by one country or two being cheeky in terms of nicking players. So we are going to address that by putting a group together at 18s, so there is not a huge jump between them playing their last match with 17s to their first 19s qualifier. It can be a year at least before you see them again.
‘So that the pathway keeps going until we get them to 21s and that point you’re looking going: “Who do we think can actually play for Scotland? Who is not a jersey filler, with the greatest of respect?”
‘I believe a committee will be put together to select the next manager and if I’m asked to be involved in that, fine. No matter what, going forward, the performance side of the national squad, I’ll be looking after that.
‘In terms of analysis, sports science, medicine and talent ID, I want best practice at that level now. I want to go and find the best — and it should reflect what happens at Champions League level. I’ve enough experience of people who’ve been around that to know exactly what we need.’
It remains to be seen if Mackay’s tenure of the team will extend into the spring or post-season friendly dates when Scotland can expect to be in demand as warm-up acts for those fortunate enough to be revving up for Russia 2018.
If he is being granted further opportunity to pitch for the job or keeping the seat warm, then Mackay could be leading a Scotland team to Morocco in March.
If not, then the SFA’s Mr Right will
be the beneficiary of a Mackay project that he believes can impact positively on every age group.
‘I want to be a wee bit more innovative in terms of the experience our younger teams get,’ said Mackay.
‘I don’t want us playing the same couple of countries constantly just because they’re available. I want to give our boys a bit more of a challenge — different cultures, systems, styles, continents.
‘We have to be prudent because we don’t have endless cash to fly to South America to play Uruguay, which I’d love to do. But what can we do? We can have Uruguay or China flown to Morocco.
‘So we’re going there with various age groups and their girls teams and play sub-Sahara African teams like Ghana, who come over to Morocco. We’ve actually managed to snare France, at Under-17s level, in Morocco in February to play them twice in a week, which is terrific.
‘The potential then is for the A squad to play in March, although that’s not done yet.
‘We’ve spoken to the Moroccan federation, government and tourist board. I have been to Agadir, Rabat, Casablanca, Fez and Marrakech. It’s three hours from the UK, no time difference, temperate climate.
‘They went for the 2010 World Cup and lost it by one vote to South Africa. They had to start building so there’s seven national stadiums and training facilities that put us to shame.’