Hampden Park? More like Jurassic Park

If ever one selection decision highlighted the identity challenge British football faces, it was the one recently announced by the Scottish FA for their under 19 team's upcoming fixtures.

In deciding not to select Jack Harper, and then explaining the reasons for not doing so, the SFA’s Under 19s Manager, Ricky Sbragia, lit the blue touch paper for some of the many thousands of coaches, players, administrators and fans out there who have a stake in how football in Britain develops in the next few years.

Jack Harper is a 19 yr old residing in Spain, where he was born to Scottish parents, and is currently on a 5 year contract with Real Madrid. Playing for their B team, he is coached by Zinedine Zidane in an environment that seeks to develop his considerable talent. Harper plays as an attacking midfielder or withdrawn forward. His balance, close control and ability to direct play and dominate possession of the ball in harmony with his team mates are key attributes for him.

Harper and his family have made clear their desire for him to represent Scotland in international football, which he has already done at youth level.

Sbragia, on delivering the news of Harper’s omission, explained the reasons for leaving Harper out.

'Our concentration is on the opening game with Austria and we've deliberately got more height in our squad. That's one of the reasons why Jack isn't in.’

'I can only pick 18 when I really could have picked 26 or 27. I've gone for a physical side and runners. Hopefully I'm right.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3009302/Real-Madrid-starlet-Jack-Harper-snubbed-Scotland-19s-small.html#ixzz3VQF6QKC2 

There are many reasons why managers choose certain players, styles and approaches and we can’t pretend to know all of the decision making factors running through Sbragia’s mind, but his explanation clearly shows that he has a plan to try and win the upcoming games employing a certain style of football that relies to a large degree on physical attributes, more so than the ability to receive and pass the ball in a fashion that is likely to result in the team retaining possession.

I could justify Sbragia’s approach if I believed that Scotland as a nation was entirely bereft of young players developing excellent habits as technical footballers. If there really were so few that the SFA were forced to deploy a direct style of football, it would be a conscious decision taken because there really was no other option.

But this is not the case.

A number of academies in Scotland are producing great results by focussing on possession and a more technical style. Paul Grech on his excellent site  http://www.blueprintforfootball.com/ provides some great insight into the academy systems at these clubs, and so we can safely assume that the SFA has some of the raw materials to work with if it wishes to change.

And let’s face it, the wonderful job that Gordon Strachan has done with the Scottish national side cannot hide the fact that the nation is a perennial minnow in international football now, a far cry from the ranking enjoyed during successive qualification for World Cup finals tournaments in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Strachan is making the best of what he has and doing so admirably.

And herein lies the problem - not just for Scottish football, but for thousands of clubs throughout Great Britain.

Should Sbragia really be going into the next 3 U19 fixtures with the mentality “ I need to go and get a result, and I’ll use the best methods at my disposal right now to try and do that”?

Absolutely not….no no no no no!

The two choices here are simple 

1) put out a side that might stop the opposition and maybe grab a result by doing that and grabbing a goal because they play the ball into the opposition’s final 3rd often enough, maybe resulting in 1-1 draw. 

Or

2) put out a side that focuses on playing a certain way and tries to control possession of the ball, and therefore the game, for longer periods than the opposition, taking a few risks to do so, and maybe getting punished for those mistakes in a 3-1 defeat.

Which method helps the players and staff learn and ultimately improve? Which method sounds all too familiar? Which method is more likely to be adopted by the world's best teams?

Youth football - should it be about winning games or producing players that can win games when they become senior players?

The SFA and Sbragia seem to value the results in the coming weeks as more important than addressing and then developing a style of play that will see them adapt to the changing nature of the global game. It feels incredibly short sighted, and it indicates that Sbragia’s job description seems to make no consideration for development - development of players, development of a style, development of a footballing identity Scotland can proudly state as its own.

I’m not trying to dig Sbragia out here - I’m led to believe he is a great guy by lads that have played for him and he is only doing his job. I’m also not saying that every nation should try and copy Spain, or any other successful team. Rigorous work on set pieces, defending as a unit and early delivery from wide areas can, amongst other tactics, also be developed to get the right style of play.

I am however, suggesting that the SFA is failing miserably to address the need for change and improvement, and is missing out by focussing on the results of an under 19s tournament rather than the long term development of elite footballers.

Consider the grass roots team at under 13 level who beat everyone because they play the long ball almost exclusively up to their star striker who is much bigger, stronger and faster than all the other lads at that age, and generally deploy kick and run tactics to achieve success, feeding the ego of the striker, his father and the coach (probably the same guy).

​

The star striker knows no other way so when his peers catch up physically, he is left without a solid technical base because he was never asked to do anything other than kick and run. Similarly his team mates who only ever got their head up and launched it to said star striker can ping a ball long but do little else.

But they have trophies to remind them of their moment in the sun.

Scotland's next moment in the sun may come sooner, it may come later, but it won’t last if they fail to recognise the benefit of development, and players like Jack Harper.