AS the proud grandfather of a boy who is involved in the youth set-up at one of Scotland’s leading football clubs, Brian Whittle has been impressed and encouraged by the standard of coaching our stars of tomorrow are receiving.
“What the clubs do with their young players is brilliant,” said Whittle, the former Olympic athlete who is now the Conservative MSP for South Scotland. “The skill level they have got these kids at is fantastic.
“My grandson, who is 10, is really enjoying it. That is the key element for me. Are the kids enjoying doing what they are doing? He is. He is enjoying it immensely. The club he is at are doing great with him.”
However, the 58-year-old, a former European Championship gold medal winner, has serious concerns about the commercialisation of youngsters within the Club Academy Scotland (CAS) system.
He is unhappy the elite CAS clubs - Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee United, Hamilton Academical, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Motherwell and Rangers – have decided to retain multi-year registrations for 15-year-olds.
Youth football campaigners claim they breach United Nations human rights guidelines and the public petitions committee at the Scottish parliament, which Whittle was a member of for four years, called for them to be scrapped back in 2020.
He has given his support to a motion which was submitted at Holyrood on Thursday by Richard Leonard, the Labour MSP for Central Scotland, which called for a debate on the establishment of an independent regulator.
“I have got a vested interest in this now,” he said. “Clubs are very aware of the big sums of money that are being bandied about for transfers of children between clubs. They seem to be excited by it.
“But for me football at that level is about kids enjoying it and staying in it. We are potentially taking that away from. Don’t get me wrong, the club my grandson is at train their kids really well. But there are other clubs sniffing about him. I am not happy about that and I wouldn’t be keen on him going to them.”
Westminster endorsed the findings of a fan-led review into the men’s game in England in April and gave a commitment to create an independent regulator of the game down south.
Whittle believes it is vital that Holyrood follow their lead.
“We have to go down that route,” he said. “We have been involved in this for such a long time. I have had quite a lot of, how should I put it, abrasive interactions with the SFA and the SPFL over the years.
“Their inability to move on this or even to recognise that there is a problem is concerning. These organisations are governed by the football clubs themselves. They are not there for the benefit of players.
“For me, it is almost as if the powers-that-be are sitting this one out. They are hiding behind FIFA. But the FIFA rules and regulations are not what the SFA and SPFL say they are. It is almost as if they think if they can resist it and resist it and resist it then it will go away.
“It is really important that it doesn’t go away. At the end of the day, what we all want is the children to have access to great football and to enjoy themselves. But we need to protect them.
“The hoovering up of all these kids, keeping them on contracts for 30 months, preventing some of them from actually playing football, is just wrong. The system is weighed the wrong way. It has to be weighed in favour of the kids.”
Whittle added: “I totally understand the clubs’ perspective. They want to protect their investment. They have put a lot of time and energy into players. However, they also have a responsibility to protect the kids.
“There are sensible ways in which we could do both – protect the clubs’ investment and also protect the child. The current system is not it. But the football authorities don’t seem prepared to consider anything else. We just need to sit down and work out how to reach both objectives without putting the child’s wellbeing in jeopardy.”
The United Kingdom government voted to establish an independent regulator following a number of high-profile crises in English football – including the failed bid to create a European Super League and the collapse of Bury Football Club.
The regulator will have the power to sanction clubs which break financial rules. A new owners’ test is set to be introduced which will replace the current tests which are carried out by the Premier League, Football League and Football Association. Elsewhere, legislation is to be brought in which gives supporters greater say in the running of the game.
The motion submitted to Holyrood this week focused on youth football – but Whittle is confident an independent regulator would potentially benefit every level of the game in this country.
“It is a positive move by Westminster and I think it is a move we should take up here,” he said. “It all depends on the criteria you give to the regulator, how you frame what their role is. That is the key.
“But proper governance of football would be a good thing, not just for the players but for the clubs themselves. It is to look after all parties, not just one side, and make sure they are all properly represented.
“That would be to the benefit of Scottish football as a whole. We have been in the doldrums for too long. I am old enough to remember when we always qualified for the World Cup.
“We also have the fantastic growth of women’s football. You can see the success they are having. Football has changed quite significantly in the past decade or so.
“I think an independent regulator overseeing the wellbeing of players and the game would be really useful, really helpful. I understand that people are resistant to change, but they are going to have to change.”
