IF there was one man in Scotland who may have been relieved to see Wales falter in their European Championship semi-final against Portugal, then it probably would have been Gordon Strachan.

As the Welsh Dragons finally fell to Cristiano Ronaldo and his cohorts, thus belatedly rendering the competition free of the traditional "home nations", the Scotland manager must have been pleased that his own stock in the hearts and minds of the Tartan Army would at last halt a summer-long downward trend that makes the pound’s recent fortunes look like a mere bump in the road.

With every against-the-odds victory the Welsh, Irish or Northern Irish pulled off – along with the exploits of tiny Iceland – Scotland’s absence from the biggest party in Europe drew ever more harshly into focus. Messages on social media from our near-neighbours asking us to take the bins out and water the plants didn't help much either.

“What could we learn from these sides?” pondered pundits and hacks north of the border, while supporters answered the obvious conclusion was perhaps that Scotland, in actual fact, just weren’t that good.

Strachan’s claims his side were a world-class player away from being at the party held little water, but his suggestion that lady luck went against Scotland in their qualifying group has a little more weight behind it according to his great friend, and former national boss himself, Alex McLeish.

“I would say we were really unlucky in terms of the group we were in and in the timing of certain things,” said McLeish.

“When you consider the Georgia game, they had been really galvanised by the new coach coming in a week or two before that, so the timing of things wasn’t great.

“The Irish then got a fantastic and unexpected result against Germany, and suddenly we were out. That’s not looking for excuses, we’re still not where Gordon wants us to be, because I know he wants us to be at a higher level than even the progress that he has made.

“Not going to the Euros was a hell of a blow, especially when every other home nation went. With each passing day it became more painful and I’m sure every Scottish person felt that. When Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and England all qualified from the group stages it just got worse and worse. These countries have made fantastic progress to be fair, apart from England, but it’s such a fine line.

“Gordon was so close to it. Defensively, I didn’t think we played badly, but we seemed to lose crucial goals at crucial times. In terms of organisation, I think Gordon had the team set up with a great balance. We were compact, but were able to break against teams.

“You look at a lot of teams there and I think we could have done all right.”

No one though, not even the most stereotypically pessimistic Scot, could really believe our absence from the major international arena for the best part of 20 years is solely down to Dame Fortune refusing to smile upon us.

McLeish was at pains to stress there is not a soul in Scotland more acutely aware of that fact than Strachan, who he says is also all too aware of what his side’s limitations are. He contends though that there is no one better placed to remedy the situation than his former Aberdeen team-mate.

The problems of player development at youth level are multitudinous according to McLeish, and until those deficiencies are addressed – as Strachan and SFA performance director Brian McClair seem certain to propose – then Scotland may continue to punch below their weight for some time yet.

“There is something clearly missing from the academy system that is in place,” McLeish said.

“There are young players who have gone out of the game having been in the academy system too early or for too long, and they’ve not had enough actual football.

“Gordon and I have had a big chat about this in terms of the amount of game-time that kids are getting. At training, everybody seems to want to just do drills and all that stuff, but they really need to get players back to playing football.

“My mate’s son, Jon McCracken, was really scunnered by one of the big academies a few years ago. He’s such a talent, and I could see that this kid was going to be lost to football. I had to talk to him and tell him to go somewhere else to go and get his life back and his enjoyment of the game back. He was only 12 at the time!

“Now he’s making great progress at Hamilton and he’s got the fun back and the love back for the game, because it was becoming far too intense at the age of 12. Hopefully now that he’s back enjoying football again he can go all the way. These kids have got to be allowed to find their way, be allowed to make mistakes and be encouraged.

“Boys clubs have probably fallen out with academies over the years with the way things have been structured, and I think that’s an area where a bit of work needs to be done. We have to get them back together and working together. If a kid isn’t good enough at 15 or 16 for example, let him go back to that level for a while so they keep playing and they keep their love for the game. Too many are getting scunnered by it all at the age of 17 and then end up thinking ‘I hate football.’

“Another thing Gordon and I have spoken about a lot is the psyche, and believing in ourselves more. Maybe we have to introduce things like that into the development of Scottish players. We’re great when we’ve got a chip on our shoulder, when we’re backed up against the wall we come out fighting, but in the games we are expected to win, we don’t quite do it.

“Whether that is an apprehension that is in our Scottish psyche, I don’t know.”