This is a strange week for an Englishman within Scottish football’s corridors of power. Stewart Regan asserts that “business is more important than pleasure” in respect of Friday’s World Cup qualifier at Wembley. The problem is north of the border the two have not met for so long.
Whatever criticisms are levelled at Regan – and plenty are – he has presided over more change as chief executive of the Scottish FA than his predecessors. A new judicial system, the streamlining of professional and non-professional football and a fresh governance structure have all arrived on Regan’s watch. And yet, as he knows only too well in a nation obsessed with one sport, a stuttering team brings flak by the barrowload.
“Ultimately when there is someone to blame, it is usually myself,” said Regan. “I don’t mind that, it comes with the territory. It can be wearing personally at times.
“There are enormous highs and huge lows. I think the national manager feels the same emotional rollercoaster. The difference in attitude and opinion towards the same group of players can be vast.
“I still find it an incredibly negative environment at times. I don’t know whether it is part of the Scottish psyche, whether there is so much demand and expectation that when things don’t happen, people feel really negative. I find it very surprising. When I sit at Uefa and talk to colleagues they find it surprising that there is so much negativity in the Scottish media around the national sport.”
Regan’s support for Gordon Strachan, the manager to whom he refers, is understandable even if all logic points towards a parting of the ways if the Scots fail in London. Three Group F matches have returned four points, with the 3-0 reverse in Slovakia last month a particularly disastrous evening for the manager who failed to guide Scotland to Euro 2016.
“Gordon knows going to Wembley he can be the hero,” Regan said. “That’s the mindset that we all need to have rather than going in saying ‘What if it goes wrong?’ Andy Murray wouldn’t go into a grand slam final thinking ‘What if I get beat here? What will people write about me?’ He is going in there to win the game. In all his preparation and all his pre-match discussion, he will never mention getting beaten. That’s the mindset we need.
“After Slovakia, Gordon was very disappointed and down. We talked it through. We talked about what had happened over the first three matches of the campaign. We are still in the running. We are not written off.
“It is really demoralising for all of us when we don’t get the result we want and no more so than the national manager when everyone is calling for his head after a really disappointing performance. We are only three points behind the group leaders and one from second place.”
A key foundation of the Scottish FA’s bid to bridge a talent gap, not only to England but other European countries of similar size, relates to their performance strategy. The governing body has bestowed £6m per year both on that – which now includes dedicated performance schools – and club academies since 2011. It remains too early in the process to analyse outcomes but at least some form of plan exists.
Regan takes the cause seriously, if not personally. He recognises the appearance of 2,500 children in the academy setup across Scotland means a bloated system. “They were not necessarily being misled but they were chasing a dream that frankly may never happen,” he insisted. “We have to focus our resources on the very best that we possibly can.”
The recent opening of the £33m national performance centre in Edinburgh, it is hoped, will accelerate progress.
“I think it is the jewel in the crown of our performance strategy. We have a home and a place to showcase our talent,” said Regan. “We have seen nine of our current Victory Shield squad coming through our performance schools. We have seen the first player in a first team, Jack Paterson at Kilmarnock.
“We have to work a lot closer with the clubs to recognise that developing young Scottish talent suits everybody. That means coaching support, data sharing, talent identification, investment through measurable performance outcomes and academy infrastructure, proving opportunity for kids to rise up and play for Scotland.
“We are still very old school in how we scout, how we identify talent and how we use data. That’s an area we recognise we have to invest in.”
This process hasn’t been entirely smooth. Mark Wotte, Scotland’s first ever performance director, suffered resistance from clubs. Brian McClair, Wotte’s successor, lasted just 17 months. Regan hopes to make another appointment before the turn of the year.
“Brian is a fantastic guy but moving into the performance director role was a bigger challenge than he thought it would be,” the chief executive explained. “Some of the skill sets that we thought would naturally come out through being involved in the biggest academy in English football didn’t materialise.
“Mark set out to make a difference and did in a lot of ways. He initiated a review of academies, set up the performance school structure and the U20 league. By the end of his time with us, he was struggling to bring the clubs with him.
“Ultimately, we have to recognise that the players are the clubs’ players. We cannot say ‘this is going to happen’ because the clubs pay these players, they invest a lot of time through their academies.
“We are trying to get buy-in. The results on the pitch speak for themselves. We haven’t qualified for a major tournament for 20 years. The U21s have struggled, they haven’t performed well in their last two campaigns. We do very well up to 17, 19 years of age, then there is this gap. Those players are not getting into first teams. My message has been that we aren’t playing kids who show a lot of promise. They get five minutes, they get in for a game then are dropped. We have to accept that clubs have a different agenda. But we also need a common strategy; that is, if we can produce better young Scottish players, everyone wins.”
There are oft-used claims in Scotland regarding precisely where it all went wrong. One relates to the failure of the SFA, when the international going was good, to use major finals revenue to meaningfully invest in facilities.
“Indoor football pitches don’t generate world class players,” Regan said. “We have any amount of grass pitches in Scotland, we have any amount of sports and leisure centres; what we don’t do is actually make them available all the time. There is a lot of responsibility for that. How many schools are locked at quarter to four on a summer afternoon? We don’t use the resources that we’ve got efficiently enough.
“I think we have to change our mindset from coach education to coach development. Instead of just giving people a certificate, we should teach them to become better coaches.”
Only one will make headlines, regardless of the Wembley result. Regan will not be praised if Scotland upset the odds. The alternative outcome will bring another form of publicity entirely.
