VETERAN coach Stuart Hogg has ordered Scottish athletes to stop celebrating mediocrity in the run up to next year’s Commonwealth Games.

The 69-year-old – who coached Yvonne Murray to Commonwealth Gold in 1994 – coaches a trio of leading Scottish athletes but is alarmed at the dropping standards in the sport.

And Hogg is worried the current crop of talented youngsters could be failed by inadequate coaching in the build up to Delhi next October.

“Over the last few years I’ve seen Scottish athletics celebrate mediocrity and once you do that you’ve got a problem,” said Hogg.

“Coaches need to learn more about their events, and look beyond Hadrian’s Wall, and beyond the English Channel, to wherever new ideas are coming from.

“We’ve got the talent at under-17 level, but we don’t bring it through. We need to change the culture, because it’s evident that we’re going down the way.”