A leap year in Scottish football

2007 saw a resurgence in the game at club and national level, but we must keep the momentum up

IT APPEARS to have been a vintage year for Scottish football and there have been times when we have understandably felt drunk with the success. Certainly the bare facts show plenty to celebrate. Three sides competing in European football after Christmas has been as common as sobriety in Glasgow's George Square at Hogmanay. On top of that has been the resurgence of the national team under Alex McLeish who kept up the good work started by Walter Smith.

Until last week, the SPL itself was showing uncommon signs of being more than just a league of two following Motherwell's spirited run of five wins. It took them to within a game of splitting the Old Firm before they ran out of steam.

Mark McGhee's side do, however, still provide a benchmark for many of the most positive signs in the domestic game today. He insists on open, attractive, attacking football with the emphasis on passing, moving and skill. In the first third of the season, Hibernian were doing exactly the same to great effect and Falkirk will give up on their pleasing football the day John Hughes gets mistaken for a Morningside socialite.

At this time it is tempting to look back and judge everything on what has happened over the past 12 months, but for me the seeds of change in the Scottish football style started a long while before that. Maybe it was the day that the SKY TV deal fell through nearly six years ago and the Scottish football version of the credit crunch began to hit home.

That was the start of the end for both Celtic and Rangers being able to muscle the rest effortlessly out of the way, and I mean that literally. Rangers at their peak were a fine team with good players but when skill didn't win the day, pure power could be trusted to do the trick. Celtic under Martin O'Neill took that idea to a whole new level with a team of height and power never before witnessed in Scottish football.

I well remember being in the Motherwell squad at Parkhead and manager Billy Davies explaining it was the bench for little old me again and by the way we need another couple of centre halfs who are over 6'2" if we are going to have any chance of surviving in the land of the giants. Every team had to power up or die and if that meant getting bigger lads from anywhere in the world, because they weren't available in Scotland, then so be it.

For Celtic it was successful and I congratulate Martin and his team – there was no fault in them finding the best way to succeed considering their inability to win on pure skill against the great names of Europe. Because of their location and their relative financial restrictions they could never compete to buy the best technical players – Henrik Larson being an obvious and outstanding exception.

Fast-forward a few years and a good few million less in the transfer and wages budgets. Both Celtic and Rangers under new management are now replete with Scots and generally trying to play football at home and abroad. The rest of the SPL now no longer have to fear physical power, do not have to spend huge sums on imports and are able to develop and then have a go with their own home-grown players.

So this year of advance has been partly serendipitous, but coaches outwith the Old Firm still had to be brave to play a more positive and more technical game. Happily, they have been. Jimmy Calderwood at Aberdeen is a fine example. When his team goes a goal down in the second half, he throws caution to the wind and attacks like no other. He and Aberdeen deserve their European success just for that.

There are plenty who will be quick to cry naivety, but better that than cowering like lambs to the slaughter after losing an early goal at Parkhead or Ibrox as was the case for years before with many of his predecessors. I recently heard the same accusation aimed at John Collins and Hibs, and, yes, watching them week in and week out I find myself calling for one of the midfielders to sit a bit deeper, or for both full backs to refrain from overlapping at the same time. It has, however, been exciting, it has been positive and it has engendered a "can do" attitude from players and relieved them of the fear that has crippled young up-and-coming players for years.

Celtic and Rangers have been in danger of getting us carried away with their European exploits. To this day I am still not sure how Gordon Strachan has managed to get Celtic to the last 16 of the Champions League for two years in a row. With the funds available, the teams he has come up against and the limitations in the quality of the squads he has had, it is little short of a miracle. The fact that he has succeeded trying to play flair football in the classic attacking Celtic style just adds to the plaudits he deserves.

Some of it must come down to the spirit that he has engendered, specifically at Celtic Park. Any opposition player coming to Parkhead, or Ibrox or Hampden Park come to that, must feel they are up against a force of nature. It actually looks easy now for our teams to provide 100% effort on demand unlike others, specifically England. How have we managed this?

Well, first of all, do not underestimate the effect the fans have had on some of those special days and nights. My abiding memories of the year will include watching the Scotland fans blast out the national anthem before the home game against Ukraine. It was a physical experience as well as an emotional one and it had a huge impact on the opposition.

Then there were the Celtic fans at every home European tie and maybe even more so in huge numbers at the game against AC Milan at the San Siro back in March. It was an amazing sight to behold. At Ibrox, the volume during the 0-0 Barcelona game almost silenced my co-commentator Alan Green on Five Live… almost.

It must be more than that though; there is of course the increased quality of young Scottish players. The aforementioned financial meltdown was coupled with some forward thinking by the clubs who invested time and money in that youth development back then. Before administration at Motherwell, it had already been considered and there was great pride for all who were involved at the time to see three players take part in that unforgettable night for Scotland in Paris.

While Motherwell produced Lee McCulloch, James McFadden and Stephen Pearson, Hibs, Hearts, Celtic and Rangers also stepped up to the plate to give us Scott Brown, Craig Gordon, Stephen McManus, Alan Hutton et al. Faddy's strike that night may well have been the most memorable kick of the year for us, other than a couple provided by John Smeaton, but the real strength in the national game may well rest in the quality of coaches we are producing.

While England fails to find one of their own to manage the national side, we are spoiled for choice with superb young coaches such as those mentioned above as well as the likes of Craig Levein. There are also a raft of older possibilities such as Graeme Souness, Kenny Dalglish and George Graham.

Maybe it is the coaches we should be celebrating at the moment, and – short intake of breath – the SFA's coaching scheme that gave them a solid grounding and a base of knowledge. Maybe we should listen to them and probe them at more depth about their thoughts on the game more often, Gordon Strachan certainly thinks we should.

There is, however, one area where I would be loath to take advice from some of them. The moves to ditch all the rules the SPL has for youngsters being involved in squads must stopped. These rules have been a massive success over the past few years and another reason for our solid progress. These rules have pressured managers into including young players, and more importantly, working with them over a period of time. Managers do not want a wasted bench place filled by an unusable kid, so they spend extra time and effort developing them.

To become a top international player you need to have first-team experience from a young age – and this idea must be promoted, not relegated. If it isn't and we slide back to the short-term thinking of the pre-bust days, then the nightmare of 5-0 hammerings from the French will be back to haunt us quicker than you can say Bonne Année.