SFA chief Craig Mulholland issues grim warning for Scottish football as clubs are urged to pass youth vote proposal

Craig Mulholland has warned that Scottish football is facing a crisis if action is not taken to increase the game time currently being seen by young home-grown players.

At a meeting with all 42 SPFL clubs held in St Andrews, a series of radical proposals were tabled by the SFA to reverse a trend which currently has Turkey as the only European nation which sees emerging talents given fewer opportunities.

If approved at an SFA general meeting in October, all teams would be compelled to start two under-21 Scotland-eligible players in all Scottish Cup matches, with one player on the pitch at all times. The same motion would then go before the SPFL’s AGM in November for adoption in the League Cup.

Most significantly at the second meeting, clubs will be asked to approve a plan which would mean young players would have to be used for an average of 60 minutes per game across the season — a total of six per cent of available minutes.

If approved, the new rules will come into force for the 2027/2028 season. The SFA would put forward a pot of £1million in financial incentives.

Clubs in all four divisions who fail to reach the minutes target in league matches would be deducted 10 per cent of their final placing prize money — with the funds redistributed among the clubs who have achieved the target.

After a day in which representatives were told they are missing out on £40m each year due to a lack of opportunities being afforded to home-grown talents, Mulholland, the SFA’s new chief football officer, warned that the implications of not changing direction were severe.

‘If we don’t address this now, we are going to go back to a bit where we could be risking qualifying for tournaments (and clubs) ever making it to the group stages,’ he said.

‘Maybe crisis is just too strong a word, but what I am saying is we need to act now, otherwise we could end up finding ourselves in a crisis at some point in the future.’

The proposals come with Scotland having slipped to 18th in UEFA’s coefficient.

It’s been revealed that under-21 Scottish eligible players played just 18,706 minutes in the top flight last year, compared to 80,345 minutes back in 2013.

The current figure for the SPFL Premiership sits at 4.1 per cent below the European average of eight per cent and significantly behind comparable leagues such as the Danish Superliga, which leads the way on 15.3 per cent.

The clubs in St Andrews also heard from sports intelligence leaders Twenty First Group and Belgian side Club Brugge who both presented on the potential gains that clubs can make through a player trading model — with Scotland ranking considerably below comparable countries on that metric.

‘We’re at a point in Scottish football where we need to take a holistic approach to improvement,’ Mulholland added. 

‘The time for reviews is over: it’s time for action to make sure that our young Scottish people get the best opportunity to go and become top professionals.

‘We have already seen progress from the introduction of the co-operation system and the revamp of the KDM Evolution Trophy, but we know that the lack of opportunities in the top flight is concerning.

‘We would always love to do more but we believe that introducing requirements for under-21 players in the Scottish Cup and League Cup and targets for minutes in the Premiership would represent a significant step for Scottish football.’

Ian Maxwell, SFA chief executive, added: ‘We are all in agreement that Scottish football needs to create more opportunities for young players to gain regular first-team experience, and we strongly believe that today’s proposals are the next positive steps towards achieving this goal.

‘Scotland’s return to the World Cup created a huge sense of excitement around the national team, but it has also underlined the need to plan for the next generation.

‘Clubs across Europe are showing that giving younger players minutes does not have to come at the expense of success on the pitch, and we believe that these proposals which we have presented today could both strengthen Scottish clubs and have a positive effect on the national team in the future.

‘We are grateful to all the clubs who attended today and we will continue to engage with members to find a solution that works for the country.’