John Hughes has no worries over future of Scottish football

Published on Thursday 19 November 2009 09:14

AS the rest of Scottish football trudges along in despair, Hibs boss John Hughes admits he's got a spring in his step – and it's not just down to the fact his side are flying high in the Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League this season.

Doom and gloom surrounds the Old Firm after a possible "escape route" to England was halted in its tracks last week, while the Tartan Army are distraught following a disappointing World Cup campaign and two subsequent friendly defeats at the hands of Japan and Wales.

The latter has led to the sacking of George Burley, whose reign as manager saw Scotland slump down FIFA's world rankings and, on the face of things, it looks as though it could be a long time before Scotland are back playing in either the World Cup or European Championship Finals.

Hughes, however, reckons the situation isn't nearly as bad as some people are making out and says that anyone who is feeling down about the Scottish game should head along to Hibs' East Mains training complex to see some of the youngsters taking part in the club's academy programme.

"I think people are jumping on the bandwagon here and, in doing so, are trying to drag the game down," he said.

"Yet, you only have to go back a few years to find that, in addition to both Celtic and Rangers being in the UEFA Cup final, the national team wasn't doing too bad either, beating good teams like France.

"I think there's a lot of good stuff going on in Scottish football at the moment and I'll give you a good example.

"I go to our training ground at night to watch all the academies and I'll tell you this, I come away with a real spring in my step.

"We have 50 or so kids coming along to each of them and the enthusiasm they show is fantastic – it really is great to see."

As a kid himself, Hughes watched a whole host of Scottish players star for the top clubs in England.

The likes of Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness and Alan Hansen were key men for Liverpool, Joe Jordan and Gordon McQueen were stalwarts for Manchester United and Billy Bremner strutted his stuff in the Leeds United midfield.

These days Scots are few and far between in the top league south of the Border but Hughes says our standing in the game is still reflected by the number of Scottish managers and coaches in England and is hoping it won't be too long before they are able to field more countrymen in their teams.

"When you go along to these academies, you are always thinking there might be a young David Beckham in there and, by providing the right coaching, you can help bring that player through," he added.

"It used to be the case that all the top teams in England – Liverpool, Manchester United, Leeds etc – were littered with Scots and I would love to see the day where we got back to that. You rarely watched a top game in England without seeing a couple of Scots on each team and they were there for both their passion and their skill."

Burley's successor will be hoping the players he picks for his first game in charge – a friendly against the Czech Republic at Hampden on 3 March – will show plenty of passion but, according to Hughes, the new man will have to get used to high expectations from the Scotland fans.

"We've got the best support in the world and that is fantastic," Hughes added.

"Sometimes expectations can be a bad thing, though, and there will certainly be high expectations among the fans no matter who is appointed."

Surprisingly, perhaps, given the excellent job he's doing at Hibs, Hughes has not been mentioned among the contenders.

No-one, though, is happier about that than the Easter Road manager himself.

"I'm delighted that my name's not being mentioned," he insisted.

"I have worked so hard to get here – and I still have so much hard work in front of me at Hibs."