Henry McLeish convinced his review will not flounder as its predecessors' have

HENRY McLeish believes his Review of Scottish Football is certain to succeed where others have failed after revealing some of his initial recommendations have already been approved in principle by the SFA.

The former first minister unveiled the first part of his review, dealing with grass roots and youth football, at Hampden yesterday. The 74-page document contains scathing criticism of the current state of the game which, according to McLeish, is in crisis.

Despite his harsh assessment, however, McLeish has emerged from the first year of his deliberations with a firm conviction there is now a collective will from the football authorities and government to seriously address the issues facing Scottish football.

The SFA have already given the green light to one of McLeish's headline recommendations, backed by Scotland manager Craig Levein, to recruit a Performance Director to oversee a new football academy structure throughout the country.

McLeish is also calling for a 500 million investment programme to improve facilities described in the review as "pathetically inadequate" as Scotland continues to lag behind rival nations of similar size in providing the infrastructure required for a successful youth development programme. After talks with First Minister Alex Salmond and other Scottish government ministers in the course of his review, McLeish is confident the funding can be secured from a combination of public and private sector sources.

Many of McLeish's recommendations echo those made by the last major review into Scottish football, led by former SFA secretary Ernie Walker in 1995. Most were not implemented back then, prompting inevitable scepticism that McLeish's work will be similarly in vain.

"That is not going to happen," said a bullish McLeish.

In what are now even more desperate times for Scottish football, he is confident his measures will be put in place. "One of the things making people focused this time is the realisation after a long number of years that we haven't qualified for the European Championships since 1996 or the World Cup since 1998.

"We have not seen positive performances in Europe for some time, so the mass public, the Scottish people, the fan base, whatever you want to call it, they think: 'Hey, we need to make progress.' And, for the first time, I think a lot of that is having resonance inside Hampden.

"The mood of the nation is to halt decline and there is an appetite for change. I've never seen an organisation so interested in it as the SFA are. It is odds-on that it is going to happen. This is different from the last review in that the climate has changed and the authorities have grasped that.

"I can only say that the recommendations we are proceeding with immediately from the first part of the review are all of the big recommendations. There have been meetings with government, with the sports minister and a whole range of bodies. There will be an implementation strategy devised in-house by the SFA soon so that you can put a timeline on some of these things getting underway.

"I can tell you that there are already meetings being arranged about the appointment of a Performance Director. That recommendation was an obvious one for me.

"Currently, it is hard to measure the progress any organisation or club makes in terms of youth development. You measure your club in terms of league placing, the national team in terms of reaching major finals, but it's very tough to measure success at youth levels.

"One of the key roles for a Performance Director is for him to create a national performance framework, a mindset, a new way of thinking. The person will have a practical link to football academies where our elite pupils will go. I've also recommended that at some point in the future we should have a national academy.

"The Irish will have this within the next two years, while the French, Spanish and Dutch already do it. The performance director would have a key role here, looking at every age group."

The Football Association of Ireland looked abroad for their performance director when they recruited respected Dutch coach Wim Koevermans for the role last year and the SFA may follow suit.

"It's hard for me to say what kind of person we need," added McLeish, "because I'm not a technical expert. We want someone at the top of their game with excellent coaching knowledge who can inspire others to participate and who can make progress. We want someone to work with existing officials to develop the game and also to work closely with the Scotland manager.

"I actually met Craig Levein in the course of this review just four days before he left Dundee United to become Scotland manager. He is very interested in the methodology of coaching and he has since been involved with the SFA board in discussing this recommendation for a Performance Director. He endorses the idea. So we already have a lot of substance behind this."

Securing the level of finance McLeish believes is necessary to upgrade Scotland's football facilities would appear far more difficult in the current economic climate, but he insists his sums add up.

"I think I'm being quite modest when I say I want an extra 10m a year for the next ten years put into the grassroots of the game. I'd be looking for another 100m on top of that and I think that is achievable. It is not my biggest concern.

"I thought long and hard about using the word 'crisis' in this review, but it is a crisis in terms of facilities. There is a willingness on the part of government to find a way forward. They have shared aspirations with the SFA in terms of fitness, health and facilities in this country.

"I've had very positive discussions with the government, but I'm not going to commit them to anything. All I can say is that I'm very optimistic that if we are speaking in a year or two down the line, we will have started to pick up that gap between ourselves and other countries."

KEY POINTS

Appointment of an SFA Performance Director to oversee youth development.

• Establish a National Academy of Football, based on the famous French model at Clairefontaine.

SFA/SPL/SFL to work more closely and effectively together

• 500 million of investment to improve facilities – McLeish says Scotland is currently ten years behind Scandinavian countries.

Summer football to be adopted at youth level.

• Creation of at least 20 Schools of Football.

Duty of care and jurisdiction for SFA to coach children from the age of five.

• More coherence, focus, co-ordination and direction from the SFA.

Establish a Golden Pathway for young players with heavier emphasis on elite.

• Harmonise and redefine the work of regional associations.

Implementation of a Physical Literacy programme as part of a national revolution in sport and fitness.

• Future Scottish international players to be nurtured by SFA in co-operation with SPL and leading clubs.

SFA to reward clubs financially for providing players for international team and for producing more home-grown players.

• Government to encourage nursery and primary schools in early involvement in sport, including football.

Government to open up school sporting facilities for out-of-school hours use.