10 years ago Belgium ranked 66 Scotland 22

[Ronniekirk]

Despite all the Think Tank Reports and money spent they clearly aren’t addressing what needs to be done as we are stagnant at best and being overtaken in rankings by countries who have always been behind us but have now overtaken us
Struggling to get crowds over the 30 000 and to be fair for what’s on offer that’s a reasonable core support
Clearly what’s being done isn’t impacting and therefore you would think it makes sense to look to Belgium and ask what they are doing right and then get on with implementing it But as someone else mentioned it’s the the Quality of Coaching that is part of the issue
The remains I g games in our group are fairly meaningless now for spectators but Clarke needs to be looking to shape a team that can do the business in the back foot play offs Fail to get us through those coupled with on going poor results wouldn’t be unacceptable but sorting the Bigger Picture is Crucial



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hibsbollah]

Any subscriber listener to the SFAs usually terrible Scottish Football Coaching Podcast a couple of months ago could tell you. The guest was the youth football supremo in Belgium. What he initiated was paid coaches working with teams where fun not winning was the main focus until age 14. Training featured a lot of short sided games, 2 vs 2s and emphasising ball skills over tactics or team shape. No tactics until much older. In games if you make a mistake while dribbling that results in a goal, no problem, keep dribbling. Be greedy. As long as you're improving as a group of individials, it doesn't matter if you win.

The parallels with the Scottish kids game couldn't be greater. Despite the SFA coaching courses trying their best to promote this kind of progressive thinking, the culture is still win at all costs, lowest common denominator pump the ball long no mistakes, and if you have the choice of improve your existing flawed player or recruit in another one from a less 'prestigious' boys club, choose the latter because its quicker and less hassle.

[Purple & Green]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Any subscriber listener to the SFAs usually terrible Scottish Football Coaching Podcast a couple of months ago could tell you. The guest was the youth football supremo in Belgium. What he initiated was paid coaches working with teams where fun not winning was the main focus until age 14. Training featured a lot of short sided games, 2 vs 2s and emphasising ball skills over tactics or team shape. No tactics until much older. In games if you make a mistake while dribbling that results in a goal, no problem, keep dribbling. Be greedy. As long as you're improving as a group of individials, it doesn't matter if you win.

The parallels with the Scottish kids game couldn't be greater. Despite the SFA coaching courses trying their best to promote this kind of progressive thinking, the culture is still win at all costs, lowest common denominator pump the ball long no mistakes, and if you have the choice of improve your existing flawed player or recruit in another one from a less 'prestigious' boys club, choose the latter because its quicker and less hassle.

Does it help when our grassroots football teams get virtually no support from the SFA while huge amounts are poured into elite academies?

[hibsbollah]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Does it help when our grassroots football teams get virtually no support from the SFA while huge amounts are poured into elite academies?

Clearly not. But the central problem is crap coaching. Once a crap coach becomes a coach he tends to hang around. Crap coaches also don't know they are crap. So don't change. It's the same reason you get these abuse or bullying scandals in a way, there is very little scrutiny of Scottish coaches, especially in the grassroots game. You need to appoint coaches who are paid. That costs money. Iceland did it and the results are obvious.

[Onceinawhile]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Any subscriber listener to the SFAs usually terrible Scottish Football Coaching Podcast a couple of months ago could tell you. The guest was the youth football supremo in Belgium. What he initiated was paid coaches working with teams where fun not winning was the main focus until age 14. Training featured a lot of short sided games, 2 vs 2s and emphasising ball skills over tactics or team shape. No tactics until much older. In games if you make a mistake while dribbling that results in a goal, no problem, keep dribbling. Be greedy. As long as you're improving as a group of individials, it doesn't matter if you win.

The parallels with the Scottish kids game couldn't be greater. Despite the SFA coaching courses trying their best to promote this kind of progressive thinking, the culture is still win at all costs, lowest common denominator pump the ball long no mistakes, and if you have the choice of improve your existing flawed player or recruit in another one from a less 'prestigious' boys club, choose the latter because its quicker and less hassle.

Thanks for the heads up. Was a great listen. Interesting that they start at 2v2 then 3 v 3, whereas we start at 4v4.

I was amazed to hear about how they encourage dribbling instead of passing but it made perfect sense. Far easier to teach passing down the line than dribbling. I'll certainly take that on board for future coaching.