Canning calls for incentivebased system
MALKY MACKAY’S demand for Scotland’s next generation of young footballers to make the sacrifices required for success struck a chord with Martin Canning.
The Hamilton manager has fielded 13 academy-raised players in his first team this season, more than any other Premiership club. Even with that dedicated ethos of youth development, he has still seen prospects fall by the wayside through a lack of focus.
SFA performance director Mackay effectively admitted this week it might be too late to turn around the attitudes of talents aged 19-22 in the national youth set-up.
A fondness for social media and a ‘culture of neediness’ has set in.
Mackay feels a more receptive audience can be found among the 15 and 16-year-olds — who are currently showing huge promise.
Developing that potential into elite performance at first-team level is an issue that’s dogged Scotland. Canning would argue the vital process can be derailed by money.
Hamilton don’t offer their teenagers the earning potential or the reflected glamour available at bigger clubs. But that relative poverty could almost be viewed as an asset in terms of maintaining the necessary hunger for progression.
‘There is a wage structure here,’ said Canning. ‘Regardless of how good you are, there is a structure right the way through.
‘When you get out of that, you start to step up in relation to the number of games you play. You start to get a little bit better rewarded.
‘There is a big incentive here to get in the first team or to try to get a win bonus.
‘I think incentive-based contracts for young players work. If you want to start earning that kind of money, you have to work hard to get it.
‘You don’t just get it handed to you and think you can coast it. All it takes is a drop of a few per cent. It can be so minimal that people don’t even realise they are doing it.
‘And that’s at our level. When you reach the very top you really have to be at 100 per cent.’
James McCarthy, James McArthur, Brian Easton and Stephen Hendrie all grew up at Hamilton before earning money-spinning moves to England. In each case, attitude was combined with ability.
‘You can easily lose your focus as a young player when you start getting better money or you get that wee opportunity,’ added Canning.
‘But the ones who are going to become top players do so because they don’t get involved in all the nonsense that goes with it.
‘There will be players, even here, who are lost to the game because they think they’ve made it before they have. Malky is right to talk about sacrifices and the determination it takes. It takes a lot. You have to put football first.
‘It can be difficult. If you are a young guy in any walk of life and people are saying you are doing well at your job, you can become a bit big-headed, want to go out that bit more or get distracted.
‘But you can’t afford that now. Football has become so cut-throat and so elite that the slightest little thing makes a big, big difference.
‘If these young kids want to make an impact they need to dedicate themselves to their sport — eat and drink right and do everything you can to try to get to the top level.’
Opportunity is another issue. While Hamilton’s entire structure is about bringing through young players, the demands at an elite club are obviously a world apart.
‘You can’t blame Celtic in Scotland or Chelsea, Manchester United or Manchester City in England for wanting to get the best young players in their environment,’ admitted Canning.
‘But there comes a point where you say: “What is the point of them being in that environment if they are never going to get exposure to first-team football?”
‘Some kids at Chelsea and Man City can get to 22 or 23 and you haven’t heard their name. They can have been earning 30 grand a week for the past five years but you couldn’t tell who they were.
‘Players don’t come to Hamilton for the money. But there will be some players elsewhere happily earning two grand a week, playing for the Under-20s with a nice life.
‘I don’t know how you fix that unless there is a countrywide cap.
‘Maybe some would think they would rather stay at Hamilton than go to Celtic or Chelsea if they were going to be earning the same.
‘That’s obviously very hard to do, so I don’t know the answer. But I definitely think a high wage can ruin good young potential.’