How successful is the approach of Pro-Youth football?

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When the Scottish football Youth Initiative, the predecessor if Club Academy Scotland, was first launched in the season 1995-1996, there was a strong sense of anticipation that it was going to lead to the development of more technically proficient Scottish footballers.

It was thought that it would lead to the creation of a new generation that was capable of reversing the widening gap that began to separate our clubs and international teams from the top European nations.

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With it being initially set up under the auspices of the Scottish Football League, almost everyone involved had a genuine enthusiasm towards it. Many believed that the Youth Initiative was going to transform Scottish football with it’s less emphasis on competition and more emphasis on coaching.

However, looking at the initiative over 21 years later, how successful has the approach been? Is it really farming young talent? What about boys wellbeing and its effect on possible future deals?

In an article run by The Herald last year, they revealed that a Scottish FA performance target for 2015 that few people knew about wasn’t being met. The target was by now 75% of Premiership players would be Scottish.

It also went on to say that the reason behind the target not being met was down to these young players that are produced in the Youth Initiative are neither good nor strong enough to deal with the even the simplest demands of top-tier football.

It is well known that these academies are failing below the border. Not many boys care coming through academies of Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal and staking a permanent place in those teams’ first elevens.

This brings into question how sufficient these youth academies are for the future of young boys.

More recently, the fact that Chelsea has been unable to bring through a home-grown player since John Terry in 1998, has left them in a dilemma over the future of 18-year-old sticker Dominic Solanke. His demands include first-team guarantees as well as a contract worth more than £50,000 a week, which appear to be his biggest obstacles.

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It is believed that Solanke is concerned that there is not the same pathway available for him at Chelsea in the same way that Harry Kane had benefited from at Spurs despite the fact that the England international was only 3 years older than him when he became a first-team regular.

In terms of boys wellbeing, last November Jim McInally blamed Scotland’s pro-youth system for leaving rejected kids and depressed and suicidal.

“It’s not just that players are mollycoddled,” said the former Celtic youth coach. “I’ve come across depression. Sixteen and 17-year olds who are suicidal because their dreams have gone and they have been rejected.”

The Peterhead manager has said he believes that Scotland should get rid of the Club Academy Scotland system and go back to basics.

However, would that be entirely fair?

The Youth Initiative can only have a strong success rate if first-team managers play the Youth players from ages 16-18. Many Scottish teams including Hearts, Dundee United and Hamilton Accies have proven that when it is done properly, these academies can be successful.

Hearts are famous for being successful with their youth academies; take Jamie Walker, who was held in a high regard as a young player. The midfielder was 18 years old when he made his first team back in 2012, but was a regular in international squads at all age levels from Under-15s upwards.

The hope is that more young boys can enter first teams through the academies and Youth Initiative, only time will tell if it proves to be successful or only provides further setbacks.

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