Disregarding boys’ football is a dangerous game for Scottish clubs to play . . .

STUART ARMSTRONG and Kieran Tierney may be team-mates at both Celtic and now Scotland – after the former made his long-awaited international debut in the Russia 2018 qualifier against Slovenia at Hampden last night – but the paths each player took to reach the peak of their professions couldn’t be more contrasting.

Tierney joined Celtic at the age of just seven and progressed through the youth ranks at Parkhead before making his first-team debut on a pre-season tour, aged 17, in 2014. Remarkably, that was how old Armstrong was when he joined Dundee United in 2009.

He may have made the breakthrough at Tannadice after little more than a year and then gone from strength to strength but, prior to that, he had a brief spell at Inverness Caledonian Thistle in his home city and represented Dyce Boys’ Club in Aberdeen.

The midfielder, the form player in the Ladbrokes Premiership at the moment, looked back fondly on his five years with Dyce as he prepared to win his first cap for his country last week. “I had a lot of good times there,” he said. “It’s something different that I have experienced from other boys who have been at professional clubs since they were young.

“I think KT [Tierney] joined Celtic when he was one! He’s been there forever! I came into professional football when I was 17. But it was nice not to have that club football element when I was growing up.”

Armstrong’s remarks brought to mind a conversation with the father of a nine-year-old boy who contacted The Herald last year to voice his deep concerns about the “dysfunctional” and “horrible” Club Academy Scotland system.

His son was a gifted footballer who had been named Player of the Year two seasons running at his boys’ club in Glasgow, had attracted the attention of no fewer than three Ladbrokes Premiership clubs and had started training with two of them.

His old man – who had grown accustomed to his child making close friends and having lots of fun in both coaching sessions and games at boys’ club level over the preceding years – was horrified by what then ensued.

He discovered the pressure on his son to perform and win a place in the pro-youth set-up was, despite his tender years, intense. He witnessed hostility from other children that bordered on bullying as a result of that. He was also alarmed by the devastating impact on

Armstrong has no regrets . . . he remains relieved he didn’t go down the route taken by so many of his contemporaries. With good reason . . .