Interview: Mark Wotte, SFA Performance Director, on why Scotland can learn from Messi

Mark Wotte hopes Lionel Messi and Co have opened the door for wee men over here, writes Stephen Halliday

IF any football nation should be aware that the best things often come in small packages, it is Scotland. Yet, despite a rich history of diminutive talent, there has been a trend in more recent times for young players to be discarded by clubs because of their physical stature.

It is one of the attitudes which Mark Wotte hopes to alter in his role as the SFA’s performance director. While it may be some time before Scotland can again boast “wee men” of the calibre of Alan Morton, Billy Bremner and Jimmy Johnstone, Wotte is determined that lack of stature will no longer automatically equate to a lack of sturdiness in the eyes of coaches and managers.

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“I hope that perception is changing now,” said Wotte. “It’s about how you rate players and the best thing that has happened in the past four or five years in football is players like Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, David Silva, Wesley Sneijder and Luka Modric being more rewarded for their qualities instead of punished for what they don’t have.”

The emergence of Barry Bannan, the 5’ 7” Aston Villa midfielder, during the latter stages of Scotland’s Euro 2012 qualifying campaign is testament to Wotte’s belief that there does not need to be a reliance on six foot-plus athletes in the modern game. He says Scotland have another rising star in the same mould, 16-year-old Rangers winger Charlie Telfer.

“I can give you a very good example in Telfer,” said the 50-year-old Dutchman. “He is a very small player, who wasn’t picked for the Scotland under-16 team in the Victory Shield. But he played for the Scotland under-17s last month in their mini-tournament in Macedonia and scored the goal against Turkey as they qualified for the elite round of the European Championship.

“He is now one of the most important players in that squad under Ricky Sbragia. That’s what is so exciting about football, if you see someone different like that. I was very happy with Barry Bannan’s performance for Scotland against Lithuania last month. I know he has some off-field difficulties now, but, eventually, he will become one of the most important players for Scotland in the future.

“I’m a positive guy, my glass is half full and I love to see people talking about what young players are good at instead of what they are not capable of in youth football.

“OK, you still need at least four good headers of a ball in a team for set pieces otherwise you will lose games to big teams like Stoke City, but you should always have one or two players in the middle of the park to be creative, clever and quick because that’s not so predictable. You can’t defend against unpredictable players because you never know what they are going to do and they are always everywhere on the pitch. It’s difficult to create a system against those players.

“They are the players that the fans massively appreciate. You saw how the Scotland crowd chanted Barry Bannan’s name at Hampden. At some clubs the fans are only coming to see the technical players. At Ajax they only want to be entertained. Give them skilful players and they are happy, so it’s not only about winning.

“You need a style, a policy to entertain. It’s a luxury, because a lot of clubs only look at results.

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“But the most outstanding club is Barcelona and they have a philosophy.

“If you read about Messi and his years at Barcelona, he was a different player to most because he wasn’t into quick combination passing, he just took the ball, dribbled and scored goals.”

Putting his philosophy into practice is likely to be a major challenge for Wotte but has set about his work at the SFA with a reforming zeal he hopes will win over the clubs and coaches he comes into contact with.

“We’ve all got an obligation to develop young players,” he added. “If they are good enough, put them in the first team. If not, put them on loan to a smaller club where they can gain more experience.

“There is not much patience in football and there is also not much money around in Scottish football. The positive side of that, from my point of view, is that clubs like Dundee United, Hibs, Motherwell, Falkirk and Hamilton, from what I’ve seen so far, are using young Scottish players more and more.”

Five wee wizards:

Alan Morton: 5’4”

The “Wee Blue Devil” played 495 times for Rangers between 1920 and 1933, scoring 115 goals. One of Scotland’s “Wembley Wizards” after the display in the 5-1 defeat of England in London in 1926.

Billy Bremner: 5’5”

The hard-as-nails midfielder was snapped up by Leeds United after having been rejected by Arsenal and Chelsea because of his stature.

Bremner went on to play 54 times for Scotland, including in the famous 3-2 victory over world champions England in 1967, and captained his country at the World Cup finals in West Germany in 1974. He was voted Leed United’s greatest-ever player and was one of the first inductees to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.

Jimmy Johnstone: 5’5”

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“Jinky” both dazzled supporters with his skill and impressed with his courage against the less talented but much bigger football hardmen who did everything they could to stop the winger.

A member of Celtic’s famous Lisbon Lions, he scored 129 goals for the Glasgow club in 515 appearances and also won 23 Scotland caps.

Archie Gemmill: 5’5”

The Paisley-born midfielder will always be remembered for the wonder goal he scored for Scotland against Holland at the 1978 World Cup finals in Argentina.

Seizing on a loose ball outside the 18-yard box, Gemmill danced through the despairing tackles of three Dutch players before chipping the ball over the onrushing keeper, Jan Jongbloed.

A post-coital tribute to the strike is paid in the film Trainspotting, when Renton, played by Ewan McGregor, says after sex: “I haven’t felt that good since Archie Gemmill scored against Holland in 1978.”

Gordon Strachan: 5’6”

A lack of height rarely held back the Edinburgh-born midfielder, who chalked up 183 games for Aberdeen, 160 for Manchester United and 197 for Leeds United before hanging up his boots at the age of 40 and moving into management.

The 1990-91 Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year even mocked his lack of inches when he scored against West Germany at the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico. Instead of vaulting an advertising board bigger players might have done, he rested his leg on it to show it was too high to jump.