From Jock Stein to Sir Alex Ferguson, the country has produced some of the greatest managers the British game has ever seen.
However, resistance to change and an entrenched “hard man culture” has contributed to leave Scottish football lagging behind other nations, a new study has claimed.
Researchers interviewed Scottish managers as part of an academic investigation into the national game. They found that coaches and players were unwilling to embrace modern training methods, leaving Scottish football trailing behind England and other European nations.
The study, led by the University of Stirling, found that managers were reluctant to adopt new techniques, believing they “won’t work in Scotland” and fearing that they could be sacked if fans and boards turned against them.
Unless there is a significant cultural change, clubs will be forced out of business, attendances and revenue will dwindle and the national team will continue to underachieve, the authors warn.
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The report, seen by The Times, compares the threat facing Scottish football to that posed to humanity by climate change. It concludes: “This study explored the receptiveness of SPFL (Scottish Professional Football League) coaches to new ideas and learning.
The picture it painted was one in which tradition and the maintenance of the status quo dominated over performance optimisation and innovation.
“Being trapped in a context where tradition, self-interest and resistance to innovation acts as a barrier to learning means the system will collapse unless people are open to change.
“This is Scottish football’s ‘global warning’ issue.”
The study revealed that players are still preparing for games using routines from the last century.
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“Surprisingly, most of the coaches only planned training on an ad-hoc and superficial basis,” it said. “They presented a picture of training practices that had changed little from their playing days. There was a hotchpotch of excuses presented, including lack of finance, few support staff, and players who were resistant to having their weekly routine altered, or putting extra work in.”
It claimed that managers were dismissive of high-performance strategies that have been adopted in England by European coaches such as Jürgen Klopp and José Mourinho, saying that “It wouldn’t work in Scotland” reflected the broad consensus.
Andrew Kirkland, a sports lecturer at the university who led the study, said that there could be significant consequences if attitudes remained rooted in the past.
“Potentially, Scottish football won’t be able to sustain as many teams,” he said. “The income will continue to decrease, fans won’t come in the same numbers, we won’t have young Scottish players coming through, the top teams won’t be able to move back to where they were once performing at a European level, and the national team will remain in the doldrums.”
Dr Kirkland, a former coach and education officer with British Cycling, added: “I do think that the hard man culture is alive and kicking in Scottish football. Coaches who are receptive to change or who think a little bit differently may find it difficult or impossible to get players, particularly senior ones, on board.
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However, Alex Smith, the chairman of the League Managers’ Association, insisted that coaches were not holding Scottish football back.
“Scottish football has changed completely since I came into it 30 or 40 years ago,” he said. “There is no way that you would get away with managing big clubs like you did years ago.”
He agreed that boardroom attitudes could be inflexible, though, saying: “At the overall club level there is a resistance to change.”
Malky Mackay, the new performance director at the Scottish FA, announced plans last week to improve the mentoring and education of young coaches.
GREATS OF THE GAME
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Sir Alex Ferguson When he retired from football in 2013 Fergie left a legacy that is unlikely to be surpassed. The former Govan shop steward won 49 trophies in a managing career that took him from unfashionable East Stirlingshire to the heights of European and international football. At Aberdeen he shattered the Old Firm’s dominance and defeated Real Madrid to bring the Cup Winners’ Cup to the Granite City. It earned him a move to Old Trafford, where he secured two Champions League titles, 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups and four League Cups.
Jock Stein (above) The manager Sir Alex rates as the best ever won nine consecutive league titles with Celtic from 1966 and reached two European Cup finals, winning one. Stein, above, moulded an ailing club into a European force, almost by the power of his personality. He guided Scotland to the World Cup twice, but suffered a fatal heart attack minutes after overseeing a crucial 1-1 draw against Wales in 1985.
Bill Shankly Like Stein, he had worked in the coalmines and in 1958 he also took over a club in decline, stamping it with a style that long outlasted his 16-year reign. The three league titles and European trophy he brought to Liverpool were eclipsed by the winning culture he established and the bond he formed with fans. Sir Matt Busby He had been at Manchester United for 14 years before the Munich air disaster of 1958 in which he almost died. He rebuilt the team to win the European Cup in 1968 and created the most famous of United forward lines — Best, Law and Charlton.