On the road: 'Sat-nav' coaching is driving the Scottish game down a cul-de-sac

By Michael Walker for the Daily Mail

Published: 16:28 EST, 13 August 2013 | Updated: 19:00 EST, 13 August 2013

Question: can you name the current Scottish Footballer of the Year?

The answer is a 22 year-old striker who may be Scotland’s No 9 at Wembley and who scored twice on Saturday. England defenders are probably not quaking though, because Leigh Griffiths’
two goals came against Gillingham for Wolves in League One. Scotland’s Footballer of the Year plays in England’s third division.

Griffiths is as pertinent a place to start as any when searching for answers as to where Scotland’s great players have gone. England versus Scotland throws up tartan nostalgia, surnames such as Baxter, Bremner and Dalglish. But what about now?

Scotland's finest: Leigh Griffiths, the reigning Scottish Footballer of the Year, is currently plying his trade in England's third tier

When Bobby Collins became the first Scottish winner of England’s player of the award in 1965, he was one of six different Scottish winners in 15 seasons.

Last season Darren Fletcher (two league starts for Manchester United) was the only Scotsman to play for a top-five club in England. In the top ten he was joined by Steven Naysmith at Everton and James Morrison and Graeme Dorrans at West Brom. The last Scot to be England’s Footballer of the Year was the national manager, Gordon Strachan, 21 years ago.

One and only: Darren Fletcher was the only Scot playing for one of England's top five clubs last season

In the wake of a Hearts-Hibs Edinburgh derby on Sunday that was like a tornado with goalposts, some frank opinion was given in a nearby wooden clubhouse. (Hibs, remember, have just lost 9-0 on aggregate to Malmo in the Europa League. Hearts are in administration.)

Hutchison Vale are a leading Scottish amateur boys club who survive on their own steam. Formed in 1940, ‘Hutchie Vale’ have a reputation for producing players. Griffiths was one, Naysmith another, Fletcher was briefly on Vale’s books too.

Tam Smith, a former policeman turned social worker, has been a volunteer coach at Hutchie for 27 years. He argues that talent remains in Scotland but is being crushed by a system he calls 'stifling'.

Smith describes Scottish problems as global, local, structural and educational. The loss of schools football and street football is fundamental, he thinks, and he is not alone. There has also been an erosion of individuality. And Smith considers that culturally damaging.

'It’s multi-faceted,' he says. 'We live in a global village now. Take the Tottenham double-winning side, that was a British side - English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish. Now clubs like Tottenham are global. You get players from Senegal, South Korea.

'But there’s been a lack of foresight here. There’s been an organizational failure. We’ve been lazy. Those in power have been lazy.

'There’s a depth of organization in boys’ football now but it’s taken it away from the schools and I still think school football is a better forum to learn. It’d maybe be taken by a teacher or a janitor but the children would just be guided, they’d just play. There wasn’t a big emphasis on what is called coaching. It was about encouragement.'

Smith gave the example of a school janitor called Tam Aitken who recruited a young Strachan for Edinburgh Thistle.

And Smith retains some optimism, about a player such as Griffiths in particular. Griffiths started his first Scotland game in the 1-0 win in Croatia in June. He flourished at Hutchison having walked out of Falkirk and Hibs as a teenager.

The man to change it? SFA Performance Director Mark Wotte (centre) is trying to change Scottish grassroots football

'We still have talent of quality, no doubt,' Smith adds. 'If Griffiths knuckles down at Wolves and gets his off-the-field stuff sorted, I can see him playing at the highest level. I hope he starts on Wednesday because he might do something unusual. He’s a throwback, unspoiled by stifling systems.

'They’ve tried to professionalise the game here at a very young age. Eight and nine-year-olds think they’re going to be pros.

'The clubs are using the players. They aren’t looking at kids as a whole and there’s a lot of ‘sat-nav’ coaching, prescriptive coaching. A lot of coaches seem to think it’s their game. It isn’t, it’s the players’ game.

'The worst thing you can do is send wee, technical players to Academies up here. The first thing they do is build them up [physically].'

Smith realizes that such views attract a 'troublemaker' tag, but Scotland’s new performance director, Mark Wotte, the Dutch former Southampton manager, has spoken to Smith and Hutchison Vale have three players in Scotland’s U-16 squad currently in Russia.

Wotte has bemoaned the Scottish teenage lifestyle – 'burgers and Buckfast' he called it – but rising obesity is not uniquely Scottish. Nor are iPods or computers or traffic that has all but eliminated the sort of street football that shaped players like Eddie Gray or Strachan.

Many involved in England’s grassroots will nod at Smith’s sentiments, but he thinks there is a Scottish issue with identity, in general and in football.

Old breed: Bill Shankly and Sir Alex Ferguson are part of the old breed, whose like won't be seen again

'Figures like Shankly, Stein, Busby, they came from the mines,' Smith says. 'Men were men then, and I don’t mean that in a throwaway sense. They let their players become men, because they believed in them and they did that because they believed in themselves. They knew who they were.

'Fergie, maybe Moyes and Lambert, are the last of that. These were independent spirits. That’s now suppressed up here.

'There was a freedom of spirit that was Scottish – Shankly, Busby, Fergie – and they had an aura, a freedom of thought. The Scottish players from Dave Mackay to Bremner etc, they were allowed to have their Scottish free spirit.

'Today the kids can’t. We had a boy who had a trick and he was going to Hearts – the first thing he was told was: "You’ll no’ be doing that here."

'So natural talent is killed. There’s a poverty of ambition, which is cultural. We celebrate mediocrity here, the fans even celebrate defeat. Naebody celebrates defeat like the Scots. It’s self-doubt and it’s the self-doubt in the Scottish psyche that will defeat Home Rule.'

Smith thinks there needs to be a grand re-organization, a starting again, beginning with football returning to schools and a look at what was the SPL and its football culture.

'In the days of Celtic’s great team, there was a whole different atmosphere in Scotland – and there was an 18-team league. Now it’s too incestuous, too familiar, it’s not appealing to fans. Scottish football has become stifling, too intense physically. You won’t blood youngsters in that environment.'

Across in Glasgow at another famous youth club, Drumchapel Amateurs, Jim Wood has some very similar experiences and views.

Embargo: Hearts lined up at the weekend with 10 of their 11 players from Scotland - but not through choice

Wood has been at Drumchapel since 1953 and reveals: 'This season already we’ve had two eight-year-olds taken by St. Mirren. They call it professional coaching.'

Wood’s experience tells him that those boys will think they have made it until they discover 40 other boys in the same system.

He also shares Smith’s lament about school football, the absence of enjoyment as a priority in boys’
development and the Route One nature of so much of SPL football.

'We had Archie Gemmill,' Wood explains. 'He came from the tenements and he was streetwise, gritty.
We’ve lost that. The skill level is not what it was and they play long-ball football at the clubs.
We’ve got two natural, small-ish midfielders who’ve come back from pro clubs because they were bypassed in games. It feels like trickery isn’t allowed.'

Wood cites a lack of investment from the top – 'it costs £40 to get a referee and maybe £100 for a pitch' – which places a weekly financial burden on parents.

Winners: The Aberdeen Cup Winners' Cup team of 1983 was full of Scotsmen

Wood also comments on SPL clubs’ willingness to import cheap second-grade foreigners at the expense of native talent. In that sphere, there is at least one consolation for the economic implosion at Hearts – in administration and with a transfer embargo, they had ten Scotsmen in their starting XI on Sunday.

It is not quite Celtic ’67 or the eleven Scotsmen (and five on the bench) whom Alex Ferguson managed to triumph against Real Madrid in the 1983 European Cup Winners’ Cup final, but even in their points-deducted predicament these Hearts young players should learn and improve. Their manager, Gary Locke, played for Hutchison Vale.

But Smith and Wood need more to be done. For emphasis Wood produces the worrying statistic that in the Central Scottish League 'twelve senior amateur clubs have folded since 1995. This is the grassroots. This is a big thing.'

Without grassroots football, there can be no footballers, in Scotland or anywhere. Men like Jim Wood and Tam Smith sound like they could do with some help if Scotland’s football food chain is not to dwindle further.

ENGLAND V SCOTLAND - 10 Classic Encounters

Classic: Paul Gascoigne scores a brilliant goal against Scotland at Euro 96

By Jack Bowers

Football’s oldest enemies rekindle their famous rivalry tonight with England hosting Scotland at Wembley as part of the FA’s 150th anniversary. It will be the 111th meeting between the two countries, a rivalry that has provided some classic matches.

Scotland 0-0 England
November 30, 1872
West of Scotland Cricket Ground

Football’s oldest rivalry began at the West of Scotland Cricket Ground where 4,000 people watched a goalless draw in the world’s first international football match.

Scotland 7-2 England
March 2, 1878
Hampden Park

A comprehensive Scotland win marked the first England v Scotland game to be played at Hampden Park, with John McDougall the first Scottish player to score a hat-trick.

England 1-1 Scotland
April 12, 1924
Wembley

The 1-1 draw was the first time the sides met at Wembley Stadium, in front of 37,000. An Edward Taylor own goal gave the visitors the lead before William Walker equalised in the second half.

England 9-3 Scotland
April 15, 1961
Wembley

A Jimmy Greaves hat-trick and two apiece from Johnny Haynes and Bobby Smith steered England to an emphatic win but spare a thought for 22-year-old Scotland goalkeeper Frank Haffey. The rookie was called up at the last minute, conceded three in the first half hour and let in five goals in just 11 second half minutes. He never played for Scotland again.

England 2-3 Scotland
April 15, 1967
Wembley

Scotland crowned themselves unofficial world champions after beating the World Cup holders. Denis Law opened the scoring before Robert Lennox made it two with ten minutes left. Jack Charlton, playing with a broken toe, pulled one back but James McCalliog restored the two goal cushion. Despite a Geoff Hurst consolation, Scotland ended England’s 19-match unbeaten run.

England 4-1 Scotland
May 10, 1969
Wembley

It took England two years to get revenge for 1967 but it came in style as England hammered their biggest rivals 4-1. A brace a piece for Martin Peters and Hurst made sure England reclaimed bragging rights.

England 1-2 Scotland
June 4, 1977
Wembley

A match more famous for the scenes after the final whistle than the 90 minutes before it. After goals from Gordon McQueen and Kenny Dalglish gave Scotland the win, visiting fans invaded the Wembley pitch to celebrate the win, and decided to take most of the stadium home with them. The cross bar was ripped down by fans and the pitch was torn to pieces. 

England 2-0 Scotland
June 15, 1996
Wembley

Euro 96 produced arguably the most iconic England v Scotland moment when Paul Gascoigne clipped the ball over Colin Hendry and then fired home. His ‘dentist’ s chair’ celebration - a reference to a heavy drinking session before the tournament - became infamous. 

Scotland 0-2 England
November 13, 1999
Hampden Park

In the first leg of a Euro 2000 play-off, England took a 2-0 advantage. A Paul Scholes brace put Kevin Keegan’s side firmly in control in England’s most recent victory over the Auld enemy.

England 0-1 Scotland
November 17, 1999
Wembley

In the return leg, Don Hutchinson’s header earned Scotland the win but only a world class save from David Seaman stopped Christian Daily from levelling the tie. Scotland’s first win on English soil since 1981 wasn’t enough though, as England went through on aggregate.

Comments (9)

Share what you think

• Newest
• Oldest
• Best rated
• Worst rated

 View all

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

 View all

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.

Who is this week's top commenter? Find out now