Martin Hannan: There are still ways we can improve our cash-strapped game

The three biggest problems are lack of money, lack of good Scottish players, and a decline in the quality of play at all levels. In these three areas, Scottish football is either preparing to take action or is taking it. This may not bridge the financial gulf that has opened up between north and south of the border, but the measures being worked on can at least improve what we’ve got.

CHANGING THE BASE

Scotland was once in the Guinness Book of Records as the nation with the highest figure per head of population of adult males playing football. Back in the 1960s, the various professional, semi-professional and amateur leagues and associations had 100,000 registered male adult players. The figure is now 65,000 men, women and children recorded, as opposed to registered, as playing football.

It is axiomatic that, if your player base dwindles, so will the quality of your players. Scottish football therefore needs to broaden its base, and quickly.

The game has to be made attractive to youngsters, and that much maligned body the SFA might be about to change things for the better.

As part of the strategy recently approved by the Association, the governing body has set an ambitious target of doubling the “players” figure to 130,000 by 2015. New figures out on Monday will show the participation figure is ahead of target.

In addition the SFA will be going all out to get many more young individuals to commit to the “10,000 hours” plan – so named from research which shows that the elite level of sport is reached by people who devote an average of 20 hours per week over 20 years.

Basic necessities have still to be provided – improved indoor facilities, more 3G artificial surfaces, the opening up of school sports halls, more licensed coaches, cheaper access to pitches and equipment, to name but a few – yet these issues are being tackled and the Scottish Government and local councils have pledged to play their part.

It is not yet totally certain exactly how the SFA is going to change things, but there is evidence that the Association does some things well – the reknown of the national coaching centre at Largs has grown exponentially as its graduates have taken so many top jobs, the latest being Andre Villas-Boas of Chelsea.

CHANGING THE GAME

The actual way most Scottish teams play football has changed over the years. Set formations, parked bus defences and the fear of failure/need for conformity that prevents individual expression – all of these are killing football both as a participation and spectator sport.

The nadir of Scottish football in recent times was surely the 4-6-0 formation adopted by Scotland manager Craig Levein in the Euro 2012 qualifier against the Czech Republic in Prague last October. Levein has admitted it was a mistake that won’t be repeated, and that is a cause for optimism. For, if the national team manager can admit to an error and then fix matters, surely other managers will follow his example.

For what Scotland needs to recover at every level is the attacking, passing football which we, as a nation, pioneered in the late 19th century. The West Dunbartonshire clubs Dumbarton, Vale of Leven and Renton and also Queen’s Park in Glasgow were the first anywhere in the world to play what we now recognise as the modern game.

English football was all about dribbling, but the Scottish clubs and national side showed how passing football with the emphasis on attack could sweep aside the opposition.

Scottish players and coaches exported the passing game south of the border and around the world but, somewhere along the line, Scottish football – with a few exceptions – lost the passing plot, so that the likes of Spurs can come to Tynecastle and pass Hearts off the pitch.

We need to get quality passing play back as the form of football Scotland aspires to. Why not have a national football academy, along the lines of the Largs coaching facility, to tutor our best young players in the art of passing?

CHANGING THE CLUBS

It is assumed that club football in Scotland boils down to this – the Old Firm first, the rest nowhere. Yet the Old Firm have not been completely dominant in Scottish football history.

In the post-war years, Hibs, Hearts, and Aberdeen all had periods of competing for, and winning, the league championship. In that era, East Fife became the first club to win the Scottish League Cup three times, while Clyde won the Scottish Cup twice in the 1950s.

The 1960s saw Dundee and Kilmarnock win the league while Dunfermline Athletic twice won the Cup. And of course, Aberdeen and Dundee United had their years in the sun in the 1980s.

All of those clubs had things in common. All were well run and rooted in communities which backed the club.

In recent years, the modern model – a single wealthy owner with his cronies on the board – has fallen into disrespect as club after club has gone into administration or even out of business.

The Old Firm will sail on regardless, but could there be a way to reinvent clubs away from the big two, and breathe new life into Scottish football? We have to accept that television money is going to go elsewhere, so why not build a new community-orientated fan-owned club game and rebuild Scottish football from the ground up?

While Clyde and Stirling Albion have had teething problems since their fans took on ownership, many people are looking to Stenhousemuir as a possible way forward for clubs to operate in communities around the country.

Stenhousemuir was the first British club to become a Community Interest Company (CIC). As a CIC, the club’s whole ethos is for investment to go entirely into the club rather than lining the pockets of directors and shareholders. The club’s assets are “locked” as part of the community and, because of that change, the club has been able to bring in new investment and has ambitious plans to be a social leader in its area as well as a successful club.

Strange as it may seem, Ochilview may hold the key for much of Scottish football. If clubs begin to be seen once again as genuine community assets, their communities will support them.