Fans tell clubs: raise your game to save football

Scottish football clubs need to provide inspiration on the field to create a new generation of top players – and end the crisis in the domestic game.

That is the new plea by supporters, which follows the call by a former First Minister for a £500 million boost. Henry McLeish has challenged Scottish football’s governing bodies to come up with the cash, which he claims will help stem the decline that has led to the nation becoming an also-ran of the world game.

The Scottish Football Association (SFA) yesterday finally ­published the first part of Mr McLeish’s Scottish Football Review, which makes 53 recommendations on the grassroots game. A system of school football academies, more children’s

summer football and improved facilities are among them.

Not surprisingly, given these straitened times, there were no promises yesterday from the ­Scottish Government of the huge investment recommended by Mr McLeish.

However, some fans reacting to the report said young people needed to be inspired to take up the game in the first place – and claimed that “second-rate” Scottish football was at fault.

It is suggested the roots of the decline can be traced back to the end of the Home Internationals in 1984 and the annual fixture against the Auld Enemy. Scotland’s matches against England, the world’s oldest international fixture, became national obsessions, with inspired children re-enacting great goals and trying to emulate heroes in the streets.

Hamish Husband, a spokesman for the Association of Tartan Army Clubs, said: “There is nothing in Mr McLeish’s report that is new. We know there is a crisis.

“I would suggest this crisis started in the 1970s when there was this feeling that we would always qualify for the World Cup and the English leagues would be full of Billy Bremners, Denis Laws and Peter Lorimers.

“It is the clubs who have caused this, not just the government. But I am not convinced it is in the clubs’ interest to make this better.”

Another Tartan Army Clubs official said: “There is no doubt a return of the annual fixture against the Auld Enemy would be welcomed with open arms and would create the kind of interest that is so sadly lacking in the domestic game. But quite frankly, Scotland needs England far more than England needs Scotland.”

The report was published only days after the resignation of ­Gordon Smith as chief executive of the SFA. He had long championed the returned of the Scotland v England fixture.

Discussions earlier in the year over a return of the Home Internationals centred on the Republic of Ireland replacing England.

The last meeting with the Auld Enemy came in 1999 at Wembley. England lost 1-0 but still advanced to Euro 2000 with a 2-1 aggregate success. Meanwhile, Scotland are currently ranked 41st in the world and failed to qualify for the last

six major international competitions.

Mr McLeish’s 74-page document, commissioned last May by SFA president George Peat, urged local and national government, Scottish football and the private sector to come together to create a “unique and powerful investment vehicle” to make the recommendations a reality.

Mr McLeish, 61, an ex-professional with East Fife, said: “I’m not suggesting today that Alex Salmond or Nicola Sturgeon or Shona Robison can afford that kind of money.

“But what I am saying today is that unless we as a nation, including government, can find that then all that I’ve talked about will count for nothing.”

As well as the creation of new facilities for youth development, Mr McLeish also wants to see better use made of existing ones, including those at schools.

Sports Minister Shona Robison said: “We will give careful consideration to the findings and look forward to seeing the recommendations put forward being implemented by the SFA in their role as the independent governing body for football in Scotland.”