Henry McLeish: SFA has duty of care to young players

Former First Minister Henry McLeish has criticised rules which allow children as young as ten to sign on for professional football clubs as belonging to "a different era" and has warned that football authorities have a "duty of care" to youngsters.

Mr McLeish was giving evidence on a petition at Holyrood yesterday which claimed that about 2,700 youngsters are signed up to the SFA's Youth Initiative, but only about 4 per cent go on to be professional players.

Mr McLeish, who chairs the Scottish Football Review committee, said: "The rest of the world wants to be reassured that the terms we're using reflect something that's been well developed.

"It will also reflect something that's entirely legal within the system, and while it may conform with Uefa and Fifa regulations, we've got to be absolutely crystal clear that the duty of care issue for Scots children and young people is the best."

He had called for a review to be set up into a recent report of grassroots football he published.