Coaching success

Few of us will go through our working lives without some form of appraisal from our immediate supervisor.  Such appraisals usually take the form of an analysis of our previous performance (usually in the past year) with some goal setting for the year to come factored in toward the end. The tone of these meetings should be positive with the aim of reminding ourselves what we do well whilst providing some guidance on areas that we could do better at in the future.  The universality and success of such appraisal processes is in no small part due to the excellent work undertaken by occupational psychologists and human resource employees.  What if, however, our performance was open to scrutiny by the general public and those with limited or no experience in a similar role; it is such appraisals be they fair or otherwise that many of our countries top coaches are exposed to and the topic of this blog.

A friend recently sent me an article from Australia which took the surprising step of questioning Wayne Bennett's status as a super coach (here is the link to the article in the Sydney Morning Herald - http://bit.ly/SWKaR9).  For those of you unfamiliar with your Rugby League that is akin to questioning the status of Sir Alex Ferguson as one of the UK's finest coaches; Wayne has enjoyed notable success at club, state and international level.  Whether or not you agree with the findings of the article what it did do was attempt to bring some much needed objectivity to the practise of assessing those in the role of head coach.  This is not a new thing, I was lucky enough to hear a rather interesting talk earlier this year by an academic who had developed an algorithm for determining when premiership clubs should either part company or retain the services of their head coach.  The model was developed based on the team's previous performances, average points accrued and comparison to teams around them.  To the objectively minded scientists amongst you this may seem like an appealing development however I am unsure whether it would be received with such fervour amongst the coaching community who would maintain that their influence cannot be measured in numbers and figures.  This is something of course that intuitively makes sense, we all like to think that we bring expertise and individuality to our posts above and beyond that which can be measured statistically.  Interestingly enough however and in the field of economics where performance by numbers is key, research which is highlighted in Daniel Kahneman's book 'thinking; fast and slow' has shown that when the dealings of top hedge fund managers were analysed statistically over a period of 5 years their performance was only marginally better than might have been expected by chance.  Much of what we do can be analysed using statistics and quantitative analysis, the question is whether this is a useful way of ascertaining performance and in which fields it is most applicable.

Aspects on which coaches were assessed in the article were numerous, some which you would expect, for example relative success but also others which may not come readily to mind when we think about expert coaches.  One such area that was used to assess performance was the impact that the coach had had on others around him, to put it another way his mentoring impact.  This is not always something we rate highly on the roles and responsibilities of a head coach however it certainly should be.  Coaching, as with any discipline, involves a myriad of skills that must be developed over time with each coach given sufficient time to hone his techniques and practise his decision making in a range of contexts and situations.  The opportunity to practise however is only half the story and for practise and it's beneficial effects to be realised what each and every coach needs is a feedback loop.  Of course this can be driven internally by self reflection however is undoubtedly facilitated when assisted by another expert in the field.  There have been a number of examples from sports of coaches who have served an apprenticeship before going on to achieve notable success in their own right.  Michael McGuire worked underneath Craig Bellamy at Melbourne Storm before going to lead a successful Super League campaign at Wigan Warriors (incidentally it was under Wayne Bennett that Bellamy enjoyed his tutelage).  In a sport I am currently involved in there is an extremely talented head coach who is ensuring the long term success of the program by developing education resources for each coach within the network.  Examples of similar practise in Soccer are difficult to find, true Alex Ferguson has undoubtedly been a massive influence on a number of his ex players who have gone onto to forge careers in management themselves, for example Steve Bruce and Mark Hughes, however whether this was intended or by passive osmosis is open to debate.  Walter Smith and Ally McCoist seemed to get things right in their development plan however it is a shame that Rangers now find themselves competing in the third tier of Scottish football.  Before writing this blog one of the managers in the Premier league whom I felt was one of the best in the game was Arsene Wenger of Arsenal.  Despite an exceptional record in developing players for the club it is difficult to see a development plan at the club where Arsene is grooming a successor for his position.  Fans and aficionados of the club may want to prove me wrong here and I would be interested of hear your thoughts.

A further point raised in the article is whether the coach has had more success than might have been expected with the playing roster made available to him.  This represents a major issue when it comes to assessing coaches, do we want someone to develop talent with the proviso that absolute success may not accompany it or do we want a winning team.  As in school league tables teachers are not judged on the individual improvement that they oversee, or delta change in performance, rather they are judged on the end result.  As a result teachers in schools who recruit a generally higher level of intellect in their students will appear better than those in schools where the academic credentials are much lower.  Malcolm Gladwell addresses this point in a story in his book 'what the dog saw' where he makes the supposition that you are much better served attending a bad school with a good teacher than a good school with a bad teacher.  The English Premiership will certainly be interesting this season given the recruitment of managers over the summer.  Both Brendan Rogers and Paul Lambert enjoyed notable success last year with Swansea and Norwich respectively in relative terms.  Both did well in a league where perhaps they were expected to struggle without any absolute success, which seemed like a positive to their fans and stakeholders.  This year however under their new employers, Liverpool and Aston Villa, they will surely be expected to deliver results of a different kind, time will tell whether the two skills sets share common effectiveness in differing conditions.

Ultimately each club must decide what their goals and aspirations are both for the short and long term, employing a coaching (and administrative) staff deemed capable of delivering agreed objectives.  How they appraise the success of their staff is an internal issue however I would hope that with so many appointments subjected to trial by media and popular opinion those who wish to voice their opinions look at the different areas a coach contributes to a club or program before making their final judgement.  We all want success for the teams we support however on close inspection of a number of coaches and sports the impact that coaches have is often far greater than can be measured simply by results.  Developing a legacy of expertise, best practise and coaching philosophy is crucial for long term success, the development of which takes time, a commodity that is unfortunately not always enjoyed by coaches operating at the sharp end of competitive sport. 

The legacy of major games.

Sporting legacies - are they built to last?

Two years ago I was lucky enough to visit Beijing a little over two years since the city hosted the Olympic Games.  One of the highlights of my trip was an evening excursion to what had previously been the Olympic village with the fantastic bird nest stadium at its centre.  Even two years on from the games the atmosphere around the site was electric as tourists from all over the world mulled around the venues, took pictures and reminisced about the sporting achievements that had been borne out during the games.  As you may expect the transport links to the village were excellent and all the facilities were still in pristine condition, the aquatics centre being especially impressive.  Fast forward two years to 2012 and another visit to a city that had previously hosted a major international festival of sport, this time the Commonwealth Games, namely Delhi. 

My impression of the venue for the 2010 games however could not have been more different.  The Commonwealth stadium, located in New Delhi was deserted and to my eye at least in a state of disrepair.  There were few signs that a major international sporting event had taken place here other than some murals on the wall of the nearest tube station and a disheveled looking advert on the side of a roadside bin.  No tourists, no atmosphere and certainly no opportunities for a photograph for nostalgic purposes, the gates to the stadium were closed with the grounds inside in a state of disrepair.

With all the talk of legacy following the 2012 games in London my experiences in Delhi provided some food for thought.  Despite some of expert opinions to the contrary I for one believe that the 2012 games will inspire a number of people to either take up a sport, rekindle an enjoyment of sport or simply increase physical activity levels amongst those who took even a small amount of enjoyment from the event.  What is perhaps less apparent is after the budget that was allocated to host the games so superbly, how much money will be available to maintain the venues that are being retained?  Legacy isn't just about the number of people who take part in sport (or physical activity), it is about how we as a nation look after the venues that gave us so much enjoyment so that they can be utilised to the fullest and provide another great attraction to tourists visiting the city of London for years to come.

Both before, during and after the games we were a captive audience to the stories of struggle, heartache and adversity retold by our medal winning athletes.  It is true, sporting success is for many, other than some of the greats, a mere fraction of their careers and when compared to the years of training and preparation, over in the blink of an eye.  Following the games however we have a responsibility to ensure that these successes are at the forefront of our consciousness for many years to come.  This can be achieved by a greater portion of media attention being given to a larger number of sports and also by a commitment to maintaining the venues in a state that reflects the wonderful events that took place within them.

There is another aspect to legacy that is perhaps worth noting and that is the help and support offered to the athletes that do not make the grade.  For many years now football and rugby clubs have run their own academies where the most prominent talent is nurtured through organised training and competition schedules.  Few of these youngsters however will represent their or in fact any club in the future.  So what is the responsibility of clubs to ensure that their athletes have access to the skills and training that will allow them to be successful in a non sporting areas?  The clubs themselves however may not be best placed to decide that.  Local businesses, entrepreneurs and global companies could benefit significantly from the skill sets that are developed in aspiring young athletes and in the future may look to recruit these youngsters rather than a stream of university graduates.  To this end it is the businesses that should input into the education programs of young athletes as the potential end employer.  This may seem fanciful but at a time when sport is at the forefront of our consciousness and when the heroes of London are being snapped up for advertising and promotional campaigns, perhaps this is an area where society as a whole can support, not only the victorious but also the masses who despite their best efforts do not make the podium.

Sport products under the spotlight

In a recent BBC Panorama documentary a number of products related to successful sporting performance came under the spotlight with questions raised regarding the legitimacy of claims made by their manufacturers.  In our latest blog we will discuss some of the evidence presented by the program and where appropriate offer an alternative perspective.  It would seem prudent however to begin with the tenet (something which was not stated in the program) that sports products are designed and intended for use by athletes although admittedly their marketing campaigns do not always reflect this.  In the first blog we will deal with the issue of bare foot running. 

Bare foot running

There was a relatively large and interesting section within the Panorama program on the efficacy of modern training shoes and their impact upon performance.  It was stated by a number of experts that we would be better served running barefoot as this promotes a more fluid force transfer with the ground.  Indeed there is a body of evidence relating to the effectiveness of barefoot running, some of which can be found here http://www.sportsscientists.com/search?q=barefoot+running.  Whilst there is evidence suggesting barefoot runnig to be beneficial there is also the notion that some people cannot ‘learn’ how to run barefoot.  It would be easy at this point to slip into a scientific discussion on gait analysis, biomechanics and the energetic cost of running however in my opinion this is completely unnecessary as applying some simple common sense would appear to be the best course of action.

In a recent book entitled ‘risk’ its author, Dan Gardner, discusses the impact that the September 11^th attacks had on air travel in the US and the corresponding number of road traffic accidents.  In the midst of panic surrounding the safety of air travel people took to the roads in their droves and what followed was a marked increase in the number of fatalities as a result of road traffic accidents, far more than could have been expected in the air, Gardner argues.  A similar argument applies for barefoot running I suspect.  Whilst wearing modern training shoes may force us into a rear foot striking pattern it does protect us from a multitude of injuries that would be unavoidable if we all decided to suddenly ditch our Asics...broken toes, cuts and infections to name but a few.  Now I have been lucky enough to run through a number or beautiful cities however very few of these would I have attempted without appropriate footwear, running through the deserted grounds of Harvard is one thing (see Panorama footage) but up the crags of Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh is quite another!

There was also the assertion that expensive running shoes have no evidence in support of them improving performance.  The first thing to note here is that performance is a very difficult construct to measure, especially in controlled laboratory conditions however for the time being let us put that point to one side (we will discuss this in more detail when we look at supplements and hydration).  In all modern day running events performance has gradually improved over the years, some not so gradually when we look at the impact Usain Bolt has had on the 100m event.  I am not suggesting that running shoes have been responsible for this improvement but given that all athletes competing on both road and track wear some form of footwear they certainly do not seem to be detracting from performance.  Of course training shoes won’t make you run faster, any more than a pair of Predator boots will make you play like Stephen Gerrard, but surely this is not the common belief of the average person parting with their hard earned cash, or perhaps Panorama have evidence to contrary?     

Sport Science - a leaky umbrella

Few of us who are interested in sport will have failed to come across the term sport science, be that in an article relating to how top athletes train or in the advertising campaign for one of the many sports drinks currently on the market.  To those unaccustomed to the discipline this probably translates to the simple 'science of sport' or put more simply, how we make our athletes run, jump and throw faster, higher and further.  For those of us working within the sport science industry however the term may at times feel more like a lead weight than something which encapsulates our multifaceted discipline.  Let me explain why.

When the term sport science first came into our vocabulary it was probably as a result of the influence of 3 main disciplines, namely physiology, biomechanics and psychology, the founding disciplines within the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences.  All are still to a greater or lesser extent incorporated within many sport science degrees and performance program's.  Over the years however there have been a number of new players on the scene, all with their own inherent merits; to name but a few performance analysis, skill acquisition, strength and conditioning and performance nutrition.  If you were to trawl through the performance program's of institutes and professional clubs you may find practitioners with an identified role in one or more of these areas.  What is more likely however is that you will meet the 'sport scientist' responsible for the whole gamut.  With such a broad spectrum of knowledge it is perhaps no surprise that certain areas become marginalised whilst others flourish.  This represents a problem for the practitioner who must keep abreast of a growing amount of research and literature but also for the athlete who may be unlucky enough to require expertise in an area which is not being catered for.  Perhaps the biggest problem however with this umbrella term is its connotations for coaching staff.

A couple of weeks ago a coach declared to me that he 'does not need sport science'.    Opinions of this nature are not uncommon.  Conversations with coaches in various sports have highlighted a range of opinions relating to sport science from the complimentary to the downright disparaging.  In these situations it is easy adopt a standpoint of blame however to do so ignores the issue at hand.

Spot science or simply science if you prefer is embedded in the way that we prepare athletes for competition be that in a contemporary or traditional manner.  Few coaches would question the efficacy of a warm up or undertake large periods of blocked practise in order it develop a skill.  Both have strong foundations and supporting evidence in their respective fields of research which has successfully integrated into the coaches practise, be that consciously or unconsciously.  To categorise sport science as a singular entity and dispel it as useless therefore is to ignore many of the benefits it brings to athlete preparation.

Sport science can also be said to suffer from its title in other ways, specifically regarding the connotations surrounding the very word 'science'.  If we take the dictionary definition of the term we see phrases such as 'systematic study' and 'experimentation and observation'.  At no point do we see the phrase 'proof giving' as this is not and never has been its function.  As our understanding, methodology and equipment improve we see changes in the way information is interpreted, that is to say that science evolves and it is this trait which is perhaps its strongest quality.  Of course this is no use to the coach who wants answers now, in the same way that a judge must decide whether the defendant before them is guilty or not.  The decision is permanent, and hopefully (although history tells us that this is not always the case) correct.  Ensuring that coaches understand this process as part of their coach education program is vital in allowing them to maximise the impact of sport scientists with whom they work.  I would suggest however that at present and in a number of NGB's this is simply not the case.  It is perhaps this absence which allows guru's to make their name proffering cure all solutions and proven performance enhancing strategies, many of which may work in the short term but are rarely beneficial longitudinally.  After all if something has been proven to work all the time there is little or no requirement to evaluate or reflect on it, elements that as psychology has taught us are essential for development and growth.

Coach education also needs to address the skill set of being able to understand and identify which facets of scientific support are of most relevant I their team or athlete and how these can be integrated.  Few roles in society require the myriad of skills that coaching does; a normal day may involve the psychology of learning, man management, delivery, data analysis and team leadership.  And for many of or coaches this is a part time role.  As such education resources must better equip coaches to manage the support environment and where possible clubs and NGB's should actively assist in the process.  This may centre on the simple question relating t whether the information is 'nice to know or need to know' (thanks to Ailsa Niven for the quote).  It is perhaps in this area that sport psychology can have its greatest impact especially where developing a culture of learning is concerned.

Practitioners themselves have a role to play and must develop skills in identifying what the most relevant facet of support is and in what way to best integrate any data they may collect to the benefit of the coaching process.   Nobody likes to be bombarded with information, in fact retail research tells us that customers have been shown make less purchases when confronted with a greater amount of choice.  At times the work we do may not seem particularly cutting edge however if it is what is needed then it should be pursued with fervour and guile.  In doing so we may find it easier to explain and evaluate the impact of our work.  Of course for the practitioner wishing to enhance their credentials in the scientific community this may not help their research or academic profile.  Clearly then being a successful sport scientist is not synonymous with being a successful scientist, unfortunately.

I hope in the preceding paragraphs I have successfully managed to extol the benefits of science in sport, if not necessarily sport science. As we move forward it seems that perhaps the traditional umbrella term may be 'leaking' and in need of a re-think, comments and suggestions on alternatives would be warmly welcomed.

Youth development in Scottish football - identification versus development

In our last post we discussed some of the issues surrounding how we can assess the success of Scotland’s national game on the international stage; the success of the national team versus success within the domestic league structure.  In this post we will discuss talent identification in soccer and how we can assist the next generation of players to fulfil their potential on both the domestic and international stage. 

Talent identification versus talent development.

Talent identification is an area of interest that has received a great deal of attention in recent years with some fantastic examples of how sports and national governing bodies have tapped into the talent pool in other sports to create medal winning athletes of their own.  We generally associate talent identification however with sports and events which have a limited number of participants from which to develop elite competitors.  Determining whether football could be classified as such a sport in Scotland is problematic given the difficulty in determining how many young players are registered with official clubs (if this data is available I would appreciate being pointed in the right direction).  Anecdotally however it would seem that there is a large demand for youth coaching with many teams, even at boy’s club level, offering multiple teams at each age group.  This is of course in addition to initiative and elite level club academies organised and run by teams in the SPL and SFL.  Without detailing exact figures it would seem that there is no shortage of young people, both male and female, interested in playing football.  With this is mind it would seem that we are dealing with a issues surrounding talent development rather than identification.  

Talent development.

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to listen to one of the greats of modern athletics, Edwin Moses, discuss how he came to be an Olympic champion.  One of the most striking aspects of his story was that whilst at college his performances were not of the required standard to get him onto the school team, a school which by his own admission was not steeped in athletic talent.  It was only through a program of rigorous and structured practise and the belief of a committed coach that he was able to fulfil his potential on the world stage many years later.  To many coaches who have spent their careers working with young athletes this is nothing new.  The road to success and mastery in sport is rarely, if ever, linear with athletes experiencing numerous highs and lows along the way.  It could be argued in fact, as was the case for Edwin Moses, that it is the adversity experienced in these lows which embeds the determination and desire required to persevere in the pursuit of excellence.  This sentiment was echoed recently by Sentayehu Eshetu, a coach based in Ethiopia who has worked with a number of the nation’s most talented runners when he observed that ‘athletes come through unexpectedly and fail unexpectedly’.  The question we must ask in football is whether we allow our players the time and space, especially within elite academies, to develop their skills and potential.  Releasing players is a necessary facet of elite academies however determining whether the player is actually ‘not good enough’ rather than undergoing a transitory drop in form is of critical importance.  This of course could be the downside of having a relatively large population to choose from when it comes to filling places within elite academies, there is always someone out there who is on rich vein of form, be it transitory or otherwise. 

Give me a little more time!

In his book ‘What the dog saw’ Malcolm Gladwell discusses the problems facing American Football clubs in identifying high school athletes who have the potential to make it in the NFL, specifically those in the position of quarterback.  He finishes the chapter with a fantastic quote which resonates with the issue of talent development in Scotland, ‘a prediction in a field where prediction is not possible is no more than a prejudice.’  None of us, no matter how long we have been in the game, can foretell which players will eventually make the grade and play at the highest level.  Of course the task seems easier in players who display skills and techniques far in advance of their peers however still there are a number of factors which may get in the way, not least the motivation of the player themselves.  The situation is confounded by the later developers who fail to display early signs of promise but who develop into excellent players later in their career (Edwin Moses in our earlier example).  This begs the question of how many players have been at academies and released yet with a little extra time may have developed into excellent senior players.

Tracking performance.

Introducing objectivity into the selection and retention process of young players is a key factor in the development process, a notion which those of you who have read ‘Moneyball’ by Michael Lewis will be familiar with.  The performance indicators chosen will be specific to each club and depend on the style of football they espouse and their philosophy on player development.  The most important thing however is that they are robust enough to track players longitudinally and assist in the retention of skilled young players.  In addition, clubs must commit to collecting longitudinal descriptive data on their players including basic information such as training minutes, playing minutes and date of entry.  The same way that comparing players of differing maturational status is unfair so it is true in the comparison of players who have trained and/or played significantly less than their peers whether this is due to injury or selection issues.  The requirement of clubs to offer similar playing minutes to all their players is perhaps a discussion for another time but is certainly something the EPL are supportive of in their recent Elite Player Performance document.

When making decisions on players it may be helpful to use the following continuum; 

Retain - Replace - Release.

Players who are consistently performing well and/or who clubs feel have the potential to do well in the future fall into the ‘retain’ category, so far so straight forward.  For players who the club feels are behind the performance curve, for whatever reason two decisions are possible.  Firstly the player can be replaced.  This however should only be utilised when the club can satisfy themselves that the player they are bringing in is better than what they already have.  Remember the incoming player will have x amount of time to catch up on in the performance setting of the specific club and in their philosophy of how to play the game.  If they cannot achieve this, then maybe they would be better sticking with the player they have already invested time and money in and working with them to try and address their deficiencies.  In this instance we may liken the situation to a marriage councillor who asks a couple who have fallen out of love, ‘what was it that first attracted you to each other?’  The final stage of being released is reserved for players who after a thorough analysis the club still feel are behind the curve and are released without being replaced. 

Are we missing something?

Despite the widespread popularity of the game in Scotland amongst young people there may be elements of society who are never exposed to the opportunity of quality coaching and/or organised match play.  Recent government statistics suggest that by the year 2016 there will be 896,000 children living in Scotland.  If we assume that roughly half of these will be male (that is not to ignore the popularity of the female game but for the purposes of this post we are concentrating on the male game) that leaves us with roughly 448,000.  Many boys clubs now require players to pay a monthly membership fee, in some instances upwards of £40 per month whilst in elite academies there is a reliance upon parents to transport their children to the training ground the club use.  These factors may contribute to a section of society, those from a poorer background or with parents who are unable to support their children’s sporting interests, never having the chance to play the game at an organised level.  If this is the case how many exceptional young players might we be missing out on in a sport that has traditionally labelled itself as working class?

It is true, especially given the data listed above, that Scotland is not blessed with a huge population from which to select its future stars however there are many countries and even sections' of communities who produce a significant amount of talented athletes that belie their small population figures.  For those of you interested read the ‘Talent Code’ by Daniel Coyle.  There is no reason why Scotland cannot do the same providing it ensures long term investment in its young players and does not dismiss the stars of the future as soon as they hit their first dip in form.  After all, how many of the world’s best athletes would we see shine on the world stage at this summer’s Olympics if they had been subjected to an unfair selection process in their childhood?

Youth development in Scottish football

Last week BBC Scotland aired two programmes that tackled the issue of youth development in our national game, questioning whether we were in fact a ‘match for Europe?’  Developing elite athletes in any sport is a tricky matter with lessons often only learnt regarding the effectiveness of our processes with the benefit of hindsight.  Identifying objective parameters to judge the effectiveness of youth development programs however can be even harder, the pursuit of such criteria however is not without merit.  After all, with clubs and sponsors investing large sums of money in youth academies they are within their rights to expect clearly defined objectives and a structured approach to achieving them. 

In order to assess whether we are succeeding in developing the next generation of Scottish players we must first decide what our marker (or markers) of success is (are), something which was not overly clear following the debate on BBC1.  In this series of blogs we will explore some of the major issues surrounding youth development within football, using examples from the realms of business and sport.

What is our marker of success?

There seemed to be two main areas identified by the BBC as being important in assessing the effectiveness of our youth development programs; the number of Scottish players competing within the SPL and the success of our National team on the World and European stage.  Depending on which one of these we choose as our marker of success, has implications for the strategy we adopt in developing young players in the future!

Success of the national team

If we take the current FIFA world rankings as a starting point we can see that there is no particular pattern between teams occupying the top 30 places and the strength of their national competitions.  For example Brazil, a team synonymous with a style of football based on flair and technical expertise recently fielded a side where 9 of the starting players played their club football outside of South America.  Similar statistics can be found for other teams in the top 30, for example Argentina, Republic of Ireland and Cote d’Ivoire.  Clearly then it is possible to have a successful national team without the necessity for a strong domestic competition.  It could be argued that to develop a strong national team in the absence of a quality domestic competition, our young players would be best served moving to clubs competing at a higher level.  For Scottish players this would probably mean an EPL club.  This may become more prominent with moves afoot in England to allow category 1 academies to recruit player’s out-with the traditional 1.5 hour travel radius.  So here is the first question regarding major aims and strategy.  If we are trying for improvements in the national team are we better served focusing on developing players up to 16 years of age at which point they will be eligible for recruitment by larger clubs competing in higher profile competitions?  If the answer to this is yes then our effort and resource should go into coach education and athlete development for players up to the age of 16.  (We will deal with issues surrounding talent identification and development in a later post).

An alternative may be the pursuit of a strategy to enhance the quality of our domestic game, after all there are examples of this approach amongst a number of teams in the top 10 of the FIFA world rankings, notably England, Spain and Germany.  This strategy will almost certainly require the recruitment of world class overseas players in order to make it work thereby limiting the opportunities for home grown players to progress to first team football.  In the documentary aired on the BBC the German system was highlighted as having provided excellent results in the development of young players.  This is certainly true however their domestic game is supplemented with talent from around the globe, for example of the 18 man squad Bayern Munich fielded this week in the Champions league 8 were from overseas.  Barcelona are synonymous with the brand of football played by Spain in their recent successes on the World and European stage, it should be remembered however that some of their brightest starts including Messi, Thiago and Keita hail from overseas.  The requirement to look out with our own youth development systems should come as no surprise when we view the recruitment and talent development strategies of successful businesses.  All successful organisations invest in developing their employees, sometimes through extensive CPD opportunities and in more recent times through graduate recruitment schemes.  At the same time, and especially at the senior management level where competition is fiercest, companies will actively head-hunt individuals from rival firms to enhance the skill set and expertise within their own company.   This process is vital to successful business and creates a competitive marketplace where ideas are exchanged and modified to bring about the most effective result.  Like all global businesses, if a football league wants to be the best it must attract the best talent from around the globe.

Any strategy which utilises the success of the national team must consider carefully what their marker of success and/or progression is.  If we consider the eventual winners of European Championships over recent years we see countries such as Greece (2004), Czechoslovakia (1976) and the Soviet Union (1960).  Whilst these teams were incredibly successful at major tournaments does it necessarily tell us anything about their youth development strategy?  

Success of the domestic competition.

As I have discussed above, the success of the national team may not necessarily depend on having a clearly defined progression route for home grown players into the domestic league.  If however we shift the emphasis to developing players within our academies for first team competition within the SPL our strategy and markers of success may change a little.  If we look at the first team squads attached to current SPL teams we see that 53% of players are of Scottish nationality.  So to be clear, within the league as a whole over half of the players available for selection are Scottish.  The number of Scottish players per club ranges from 9 to 31 with the majority of clubs carrying a squad of between 28 and 35.  The question which must be asked based on these figures is a simple one; if we are going to judge the success of our youth development system on the number of Scottish players progressing to first team football can the level we are currently at (53% remember) be deemed adequate?  If the answer is ‘yes’ clearly the clubs, coaches and support staff are doing something right.  If the answer is ‘no’ then what should our aim be, 60%, 70% or even 100% and what is the rationale for settling upon that figure?  Until we have clearly identified our aims for developing youth in an objective manner it is impossible to decide upon a strategy. 

The data for leagues 1 and 2 is a little more difficult to ascertain however I would suggest that the percentage of Scottish players competing in these leagues is higher than 53%.  Within academies we can only be judged on our ability to prepare players for the demands of first team football in the league in which we compete and the statistics currently show (in my opinion) that we are doing a reasonably good job at this.  As I said earlier, if the powers that be feel that this percentage is too low I would like to hear a well argued rationale for what the number should be.  Whether these players are good enough to enhance the profile of the SPL is dealt with below.

Arguably the best competition for domestic teams is the EUFA Champions League however even here we see a relatively small group of clubs who have succeeded in lifting the trophy.  The most recent English teams to do so, Manchester United and Liverpool fielded 10 and 12 different nationalities in their final winning squads respectively.  This goes some way to showing that few teams are able to achieve success at the highest level without recruiting talented players from all around the globe.  Developing home grown players is of paramount importance and often forms the core of successful teams, for the above example consider Gerrard and Carragher for Liverpool and Scholes for Manchester United.  Investigating in isolation the success of our national team and/or the number of home grown players within our domestic leagues is unlikely to accurately reflect how well we are achieving this aim.  

Financial implications.

The above data leads onto the final point for the current blog which is the dependency on clubs and football governing bodies in general for finance in order to sustain their business.  Both strategies already discussed, saturating our domestic competition with home grown players and developing players to be sold on to bigger clubs in different leagues (of course in time the latter may lead to the former) will not necessarily generate high attendances within our leagues or to a product which is attractive to TV corporations.  Without these two vital ingredients clubs will find it a struggle to survive.  A recent document published by the EPL suggests that for category 1 clubs in the division a high annual spend could be upwards of 4 million pounds which shows the importance of financial stability in clubs who aspire to being able to nurture young players longitudinally.  As a consequence any strategy that is decided upon to improve the development of young players must take into account its impact on the final product which is sold to the fans.  Interestingly the second lowest attendance of the current SPL season was registered by a club who have the largest number of Scottish players on its first team squad roster.  

This is in contrast to the Bundesliga where the currently placed bottom side Kaiserslautern is still able to boast an average attendance of 41,185 whilst the lowest for the league is around 22,000.  Compare this to the SPL where the lowest average is 3934 and we see the importance of ensuring that our product is one that attracts the highest number of fans possible in order to sustain the game.    

Developing players is something that all clubs believe in and strive toward in their academy programs, an endeavour which should be commended especially given the huge amount of time that is given up by coaches, volunteers and club officials, often without pay or acknowledgement.  When we discuss youth development on a national scale however we must be sure to arm ourselves with the relevant information and be sure that whichever route and strategy we decide upon we have clear and measurable objectives with which to judge its success.  This should be done with a clear acknowledgement of its implications for the wider game.

In the next blog we will discuss talent ID vs talent development, look at some statistics regarding population changes in young people and address the issue of development leagues and their structure.