WHAT PLANET ARE YOU LOT ON?
It’s all about direct debit now.. talented kids are missing out on coaching. I look at prices for courses now and just think:
Brian McClair toured every club in the country in his bid to cure the ills of Scottish football.
But maybe the former SFA performance director should have dropped into Petershill Park on a Friday night.
There, he’d have found 250 working-class kids kicking a ball around, full of enthusiasm and fervour for our national sport.
Don’t tell Andy McLaren that boys – or girls – in Scotland don’t want to play football any more.
His A&M Summer Camps in the last fortnight would suggest the contrary. He believes it’s a myth that kids are losing interest and that’s the reason Scotland can’t produce quality players.
Instead, he believes it’s the cost to play football nowadays that’s making it impossible for our gifted youngsters to flourish.
According to McLaren, the key to A& M’s success is simple. His football sessions – in some of the poorest areas of Glasgow – are completely free.
He says if he charged parents for their kids to play, he’d have 40 instead of 240 turning up at Petershill, Possil or Pollok.
In the week that McClair left his role at Hampden, McLaren remains frustrated by the lack of progress at a grassroots level.
And he’s adamant that until clubs, with the help of the SFA, local councils and Scottish Government make all football free to play – we’ll be missing out on a talent pool who can’t afford to get involved.
Former Dundee United and Scotland winger McLaren told
MailSport: “We’ve had summer camps at Petershill for the last two weeks.
“On Friday we had 250 kids there. So don’t tell me kids in Scotland don’t want to play football any more.
“That’s all ages, from five to 15, all levels, boys and girls. We put dance classes on for the girls who don’t play football.
“And we feed them as well, sandwiches and sausage rolls, and it doesn’t cost a penny.
“If I asked these kids to pay even £1 a head, I’d only have 30 or 40 turning up. The key is that it’s free.
“We averaged 200 kids every day for a fortnight.
“People haven’t got the money for organised coaching camps. I know Scottish clubs have them but it’s too expensive.
“If you’re a single parent with three kids in Castlemilk, how are you meant to afford it?
“Money’s tight and so many people are struggling. When I hear some of the prices for coaching courses or camps, I wonder what planet they’re living on.
“If you’ve got two boys playing and who want to go, you could be down £90 a month. It’s all about direct debits now.
“If it was like that when I was young, I wouldn’t have been able to play. A&M will never charge a child for anything.
“We’re a God- send to parents during the summer holidays.
“They can send their three kids to us from 10am to 3pm. They’ll get fed, exercise, participate in sport and enjoy themselves.”
McLaren is a backer of MailSport’s manifesto for change in Scottish footbal l, which demands more investment into boys club football, a revamp of our academy system and the return of reserve sides in the top flight.
He came through the ranks as a teenager under legendary boss Jim McLean at Tannadice, having been picked up from a boys club in Glasgow. The current pro-youth set-up in Scotland isn’t working, according to McLaren who said: “Every Glasgow boys club that existed in my day is now defunct because of cost.
“It’s nothing to do with kids not wanting to play. People keep telling me they’re al l at home on computers – I don’t buy that.
“Come up to Petershill on a Friday night and tell me they don’t want to play.
“I keep hearing about academies. When did they become the be-all and end- al l? And how many genuine top-class players have we produced from them?
“Before we went to the Pro-Youth set-up, academies weren’t even mentioned.
“When I played for my boys’ club, we’d go from Castlemilk to Pollok and get a cracking game.
“And it didn’t cost anything. Pro-Youth coaches have told me it costs £ 400 for a bus to get them to Inverness or Dingwall.
“That’s money needlessly going out of the game.
“For the past two weeks, with the numbers we’ve had, we’ve just let them play games.
“Gordon Strachan has spoken about boys getting more touches of the ball and more hours playing football.
“Well, each of the kids here has been exposed to 20 hours of football in one week.
“We haven’t put down cones or put on drills. They’ve turned up
and played football– that ’ s what they want.
“When I was 12 years old in Castlemilk I’d play against grown men. That ’ s how I learned the game.
“I was stretching myself. Now clubs are terrified to do that. They play against boys the same age or younger.”
McClair’s departure from his performance director role is a huge blow to the SFA’s 2020 strategy, first set in motion by his Mark Wotte.
That’s when we’re supposed to see the regional performance schools come to fruition and the country’s elite young players come to the fore. But McLaren isn’t convinced, with so many kids from troubled, underprivileged backgrounds left behind. He said :“It didn’ t surprise that Brian has left. “Nothing does in Scottish football now. All I hear about is reports and proposals. How many reports do we need? They tell us what an average football fan in the street could tell you, that cost is a huge barrier. “We have to get as many kids playing football – for free – as possible. If it’s not free, many kids won’t be able to afford it. So you are excluding them right away.
“That’s a talent pool we’re missing out on. We all know that talented footballers have traditionally come from working-class areas.
“Brian wanted to do things his own way. But after 13 months, clearly he couldn’t implement that.
“It sounds as if the clubs weren’t on board and that’s where the selfpreservation comes in again. “I have Gary McSwegan helping us out at A& M. Gary scored for Rangers in the Champions League and played at the highest level. “He was considering going for a job at one of the SFA performance achools but was told he’d need a uni degree. How can that be right?”