DUMBARTON might have been the first but they won't be the last. It was Tuesday evening when club officials gathered parents of the 60-odd boys attached to their four youth academy age group teams from Under-13s through to Under-17s together to pass on the rather traumatic news that, however reluctantly, they had taken the decision to disband their 'pro' youth teams and each one of the players had until the end of June to try to find somewhere else to play. While this was anything but an easy decision, the sons of the Rock were definitely the first who would have been able to plausibly argue that these kids were being thrown on the scrapheap to SAVE Scottish football. Try telling that to the parents who had to pick distraught kids up in the car on the way back home.

These lads are the first pieces of collateral damage from the SFA's Project Brave scheme, a plan to drastically cut the number of aspiring young players in the nation's 29 (now 28) Club Academy Scotland members from 3,000 and focus the nation's youth development resources on a small number of elite clubs, the "ongoing uncertainty" of which was explicitly named by the club yesterday as part of the reason behind their decision. With minimum criteria pegged at six full time members of staff, and decisions relating to admittance into this lofty top tier based on certain Measurable Performance Outcomes (MPOs) such as how many academy prospects actually graduate into first teams, the plan has been divisive ever since the drawing board and the controversy is only likely to reach a climax in the next few weeks when it becomes clear how much of it will be implemented in time for next season. While most will drop down to boys' club level, this was local side Dumbarton United's take on it - "Over the last number of years there have been in excess of 30 boys taken out of teams at age group level ... we now find ourselves in a position where a large number of these kids have been spat out against of Dumbarton FC."

The story so far is that each Club Academy Scotland member was asked this Spring whether they were interested in applying for the scheme and quizzed about their plans for meeting the criteria. While Dumbarton reluctantly opted out of the whole thing - as it is they are unable to afford to put a team in the development league, meaning their players have nowhere to go, unless first team ready, when they are too old for the Under-17s - Herald Sport understands that no fewer than 19 clubs have registered an interest in being part of this bright shiny future, albeit with widely varying degrees of readiness or willingness to meet such onerous standards. These full time posts, after all, will cost in the region of £200,000 to deliver, equivalent to the annual budget for many full time clubs in this country, let alone part-time outfits like Dumbarton.

While Celtic and Rangers are shoo-ins for this new structure, and Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs not far behind, the question is what happens to the rest. So it was that 13 concerned representatives of the less fashionable Scottish clubs turned up at Firhill in early May to consider what a second-tier future might look like. Hosts Partick Thistle were joined by representatives of Motherwell, Kilmarnock, Dundee, Dundee Utd, Ross County, Inverness, St Johnstone, Morton, St Mirren, Ayr, Queen’s Park and the Fife Elite Academy who represent Dunfermline, Raith, East Fife and Cowdenbeath. Hamilton Accies, whose youth development record would likely see them join the elite, and Forth Valley - who represent Falkirk, Stirling Albion, Stenhousemuir and East Stirling - were invited but didn't attend.

For Ian Maxwell, the chief executive of Partick Thistle, the main problem is that all the money and attention seems to be focused on the younger age groups, when the main problem for Scottish teams is the transition in that troublesome 17 to 21 age bracket. And why there isn't a middle ground for clubs, like his, who might be prepared to pay a higher percentage share of their club's overall turnover than Celtic on youth development, but when it comes to further investment aren't convinced that the sums still add up?

"I don't think rebellion is the right word," Maxwell told Herald Sport. "The problem is in Scotland that there aren't two models that fit all 42 of the clubs. I think they need to look at another option within the Club Academy Scotland for a club which doesn't have the resources of a Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen, Hibs or Hearts but still wants the chance to produce their own players. I don't know why that it isn't an option.

"I don't have a problem with the criteria being increased, the problem is that it is a lot of money for clubs and there are a lot who can't afford it. It may well be that Dumbarton have decided they don't want a youth academy and I don't have a problem with that. As it is I think clubs further down the chain might do the opposite, stop having younger age groups but pick up players at 17, 18 from the Celtic, Rangers or Thistles. I think everybody wants to do it together and has the best interests of the Scottish game at heart. It is just about making sure everyone is catered for. But something needs to happen in the next two to three weeks."