The Grassroots Problems

Now, I'm no Henry McLeish. I've not been paid millions to do pointless research to tell people what we all know already, that Scotland simply isn't producing the players that it used to, and if I had been I'd have spent it all on cider anyway and this blog would never happen.

We can all see the problems anyway. We have players who are average at best. For the most part they are "industrious" types, to put it generously. We simply don't produce the players that we used to. This frustrates me no end. I am a lover of football, and by that I mean the game played by Lionel Messi, not the game played by Barry Ferguson. So what are the problems? Why can't Scotland produce players that fans love to watch?

For me, much of the problem lies with inadequate coaching. I am an SFA qualified coach, and by that I mean I turned up to a couple of all day courses in which we ran about mad, and were given a certificate afterwards for. Yes, this is all it takes to become a qualified coach in Scotland. They let you take charge of groups of kids after this. Seriously. So, you are a coach, you have your badge, you know it all. You take over a team of kids. Only, you don't know how to relate to kids. You don't know how to encourage them to have fun. And let's face it, when you're a kid, sport is about fun, isn't it? Not for many coaches. From an early age in this country, there is a horrific 'win at all costs' mentality drilled into our young people. Football isn't fun, so one of two things can happen. The kids can drop out completely, which happens too much. Or, they can stay. But this fear of losing translates onto the football pitch. Kids are so scared to try anything on the pitch in case it doesn't come off, that as soon as they get the ball, they'll get rid of it as soon as possible. Players like Aiden McGeady are a true rarity in this country. They don't want to be the player who loses the ball by trying to dribble, so they don't bother. The result? Players like the aforementioned Backpass Ferguson.

Another problem, and this is purely a personal view, is the youth set ups of clubs in this country. To develop as a football player, a young person should basically play, and play as much as possible. Play with mates, play with a team, play with the school. Only if you are 'lucky' enough to be spotted by one of the clubs and invited to play with them, that's it. That's your football. That's all you can do. How is that beneficial to player development? Aye, fine. You might make it. But inevitably, you're let go. And what reasons do they give? Daft ones like 'you're too small'. Try tellling Xavi his height has held him back.

Sure, there are more basic reasons as well. We all know kids love eating cake and playing video games. And some kids just aren't good enough to make it. But for me, it would take simple changes in mentality to change the fortunes of our game. So why don't we do it? Are we too stuck in our ways? Are we too apathetic? A particularly hideous combination of both? I can't answer that. Maybe Henry McLeish can. That's why he gets the big bucks, and I get cider.

Why I hate football

Football is a game I grew up watching, playing and loving. But football, as I see football, is also dying. I realise this is a frankly dramatic statement that could be accompanied by an ominous string quartet, so allow me to explain.

Football these days is a multi-million pound industry. Clubs are run like businesses. The most important thing is the profit margins, and the ordinary supporter is pushed to the bottom of the list of priorities. Simple things like ridiculous ticket prices ensure that many fans are quite simply priced out of supporting their team. For example, Celtic are selling tickets for the forthcoming Glasgow derby for a quite astonishing £42. This for a game taking place 3 days after Christmas, at a time when people will be stretched to their financial limit. However, punters will still pay the cash required to see this game, which means the clubs will believe they can continue to charge astronomical amounts for what is, let's face it, frankly a fairly poor product, and that the dissenting voices will not matter.

It's difficult to pinpoint exactly when the bastardisation of football began. However, one can suggest that the advent of the English Premiership in 1992 was a key moment. Sky Sports began televising live games, pumping millions of pounds per season into the game whilst charging people to subscribe and watch. However, the price of yearly subscription to Sky Sports is a price many feel they can afford. So people will pay it, watch a higher standard of football, and stop going to support their local teams, whoever they may be. With attendances in stadia dwindling, this causes clubs to raise ticket prices to make up for this drop, in turn pricing many fans out of the game completely. It really is a vicious circle. Similarly, the 1998 World Cup was a watershed in terms of commercial advertising. Nike had what was a frankly brilliant advertising campaign based around the Brazilian team. As we all know, Brazil were eventually beaten in the final that year by France, with a very off-colour Ronaldo starting that day. Nasty, vicious rumours still persist to this day as to the role of Nike in the decision to play Ronaldo that day. The power and clout of big sponsors is not to be sniffed at, these days. If the world's most famous national side can have their team selection dictated by a corporate sponsor, where does that leave our club sides?

It really is a vicious circle. Smaller clubs in Scotland going bust due, in part, to dropping attendances. Bigger clubs raising ticket prices, forcing the ordinary supporter to the absolute limit to continue to enjoy what should be, and used to be, a sport for the working classes. Can the commercialisation of football be stopped? Will clubs remember the ordinary punters that kept them going for years? Unfortunately, I think I already know the answer to that.