THE steering group has made its decision on where to base Scotland's £25m national sports academy.
Its recommendation will be passed on to the Scottish government for its consideration later this week.
Campbell Ogilvie, president of the Scottish Football Association disclosed yesterday that the group, chaired by Stewart Regan, the chief executive of the SFA, had made its decision on where to site the new academy, which will include a specific football base. Stirling, Dundee and Edinburgh are the contenders and Ogilvie, speaking at the William Hill Scottish Cup draw, said it would be a "major step" in progressing the sport in Scotland.
"We have put our focus and a lot of money into our performance programme, which is now up and running," said Ogilvie, who added that the achievements of Andy Murray were an inspiration.
Judy Murray, and her father, Roy Erskine, conducted the draw and Ogilvie said: "You can see with Andy Murray - the hours that he puts in practising, the dedication - that is the only way football will move forward. Performance schools are in their second year and 110 kids came in the recent intake. For people out there this might not be attractive - they might want to know about the Rangers scenario, the Celtic situation, the Scottish national team or judicial sanctions - but the game is moving forward. I am more than confident that we will take Scotland up the rankings and we will see a better national team."
He said the SFA was "monitoring" events at Rangers, where a boardroom power struggle continues. "Any football club that is going through these trials and tribulations is going to cause concerns," Ogilvie added. "The first people you feel for are the supporters and people working at the club. Nobody wants to see these issues coming up. We are looking forward to the start of the [lower] league season this week and focusing on the game moving forward. The media interest in the last few days has taken away from that but again you feel for the supporters."
Ogilvie also avoided commenting on any return by Paul Murray to the Ibrox board. "I am not going to deal with hypothetical questions but there are articles in place - not always in black and white - that deal with these situations. The board will deal with these as they come up," he said.
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