Following a tough two hours of severe stamina stretching, set piece sharpening, dribbling drills and the perfection of passing, a fatigued group of 12 to 13 year old boys return to their changing room. The coach, however, does not need to shout above the scramble to change footwear and make a quick exit.

Instead, as the talking with the feet is over for the night, the young footballers perk up their ears and put on their thinking caps. “How do you create space?” the coach asks.

“It’s like having a teacher in the changing room, but if I told you some of the answers you would laugh” smiles Leith Athletic under-14 coach Peter Sargent.

A professional coach who has seen it all in Scotland, but one who learned much of his trade in England, Sargent knows youth football in this country is more of a laughing stock than something to joke about. However, while catching up with the man in the know, In The Winning Zone found out that Scotland could certainly benefit by taking a few lines from the youth football script south of the border.

Having coached at boys club, secondary school, football academy and Scotland youth development levels, it would be fair comment to say that Sargent knows a thing or two about youth football in Scotland. However, it was a visit to England that opened his eyes to the flaws and backward nature of the facilities and coaching here in ‘the best small country in the world’.

“On a visit down south in the mid to late 1990s, I realised that this country is miles behind in terms of facilities and coaching. I visited both Manchester United and Blackburn academies and the facilities I witnessed were second to none.”

Better facilities and better coaching make for better players.  England enjoy all three of these assets, while Scotland are lacking in each department, relatively speaking. The figures narrate their own worrying story: “82% of our young Scottish footballers fail to make the break into the professional game” says Sargent.

So why is such a startling figure a grim reality in Scottish football?

According to Sargent, one of the main problems lies in the way the game is taught. “As I learned when I was down in England, the FA has it chapter and verse. They’ve got books that are all part of the learning curve. They have separate books on coaching, fitness, parents, refereeing, psychology and the club. In Scotland you may find the odd SFA chapter issued from time to time but you are really left to use your own imagination” comments Sargent.

“I’m not saying that there are no good coaches in Scotland, but it is a question of training these coaches properly. If we are simply going to hand out videos and leaflets on coaching, then how good will the coach’s tuition to kids really be?”

The English also boast world class training academies across the country, and with talented youngsters coming through the clubs week in week out, these academies are clearly an astounding advantage. Scotland can surely learn from England’s model, and it seems that they are beginning to. Rangers started the youth academy ball rolling with their high profile, high cost academy at Murray Park. A handful of clubs followed, with more currently in the process of jumping on the youth development bandwagon

This is all well and good for moulding young footballers into stars of the future, but only if they are lucky enough to be selected to join an academy. Every internationalist who takes to the field at Hampden has played for a boys club, and a quick glance at the facilities available to our country’s boys clubs could easily turn a youngster’s excited grin into a distraught frown.

“It is very unique to find a boys club with its own training facilities.” Comments Sargent. “The closest I have come to seeing anyone fighting for an improvement in football facilities is Ian McKay. There was a movement started about two years ago to unite boys clubs – creating football centres for certain areas across the country. But again, it’s all about money and politics and I’m afraid politicians don’t get votes for creating kids’ facilities”

The issue of youth football is in the hands of the people with power. The problem is not a lack of enthusiasm from our youngsters, it is matter of making the right decisions at the top of the hierarchy of Scottish football. “It is going to take someone with a great deal of power, innovation and a great deal of convincing to come up with the revised situation. If they don’t then we are just going to carry on regardless. Football in England will continue to be an industry while football in Scotland will continue as a hobby.”

IC

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