Craig Mulholland has vowed to get clubs to play more Scottish youngsters – and generate millions for the game. The SFA’s new Chief Football Officer will meet with all SPFL clubs at a summit in St Andrews on September 4. A major topic for discussion will be improving the country’s record for giving young players game-time.
Incentives to create a thriving player-trading model
Mulholland has revealed the SFA plan to come up with incentives that can help create a thriving player-trading model that benefits everyone in Scottish football. The former Rangers and Nottingham Forest youth guru, who played a key role in appointing new Scotland boss Sebastien Pocognoli last week, said: “Can we get more sponsorship? Probably not. Can we get more broadcast money? Probably not. The only area where we can grow in partnership with our clubs is the revenue we can get from a proper player trading strategy.”
“We want to work incredibly closely with the clubs. If we’re going to make our game better we need the SFA, the clubs, the press, the public, all working hand in hand. I’m not concerned that clubs aren’t ready for change. We need to accept that we’re sitting bottom of the table in Europe for giving young players first-team minutes. We need to be aware of the reality of that problem. We have to be brave enough to say we’re at a bit of a crossroads.”
Looking to other European nations for ideas
Without going into detail, Mulholland says the SFA will follow the lead of other European countries to get more kids playing at the top level. He said: “We’ve got a number of ideas. We need to look at other comparable nations and see what they’re doing. We are one of the few countries in Europe that doesn’t have rules or incentives. The bottom line is we need to put mechanisms in that encourage the opportunity for young players to play.”
“At Forest, we bought potential and all those millions went to Belgium, Holland and everywhere else. Let’s bring those millions into the Scottish game. It should become a self-fulfilling thing where we say, this is actually going to make money. But we need them to believe first of all. The driver for clubs should be, how can they generate significant revenues that the likes of Austria and Switzerland are getting? The by-product is that there are more players for Sebastien to pick from.”
