ALISTAIR GRAY is the consultant who was retained by the Scottish FA to devise the performance strategy which is now the latest attempt to improve the quality of player available to Scotland.

 

As far as Gray is concerned, the German pro-youth model, radically overhauled by the DFB in the wake of an embarrassing Euro 2000 performance, is the template for all aspiring nations. The Germans themselves arrived at their enhanced academy system after studying best practice elsewhere in Europe.

Given that the DFB's principal aim was to get more, and better, young Germans playing in the Bundesliga, Gray is bemused that so many Scottish Premiership clubs still won't take the same route. In 2011 he set a target that 75 per cent of Premiership players should be Scottish this year. It's not likely to happen.

Until very recently it was said you could stick a red rosette on a chimpanzee and enough of the electorate in the west of Scotland would ensure it was returned to Westminster. Similarly, are the fans of Inverness Caledonian Thistle going to care - either now or in 50 years time - that their Scottish Cup winning side largely comprised of players from the lower English divisions?

Almost certainly not, but Gray is deeply unimpressed by the content of John Hughes' side.

"They are exactly the sort of club," he insists, "that should not be rewarded in any way, shape or form by Scottish football for developing young players."

Yes, but Hughes has delivered success has he not?

"Fine," Gray responds, "but where is the long-term commitment to the visions of Scottish football? Where is the commitment to the young people of Inverness and Scotland in providing a football club that young people with the aspiration can go on to play for their country?"

According to Gray's criteria, St Johnstone should be regarded as Scotland's exemplar, starting the three games we surveyed with almost a whole team of home-grown players. The Perth club, who also ran themselves prudently when others were on the road to financial ruin, finished fourth in the Premiership in the season just past.

"St Johnstone have learned, because they didn't have a particularly good academy five or six years ago," Gray says. "Dundee Utd are still producing good young players. Hamilton had a rich seam for a number of years, and played a number of them in their first team.

"I went to St Mirren's academy, which is not exactly the Palace of Art with its portacabins, but the important point was they were doing a lot of the right things. Those are the sort of clubs who are making an investment they can barely afford to produce young players. You have to make that commitment if our football is to improve."

The six star - literally - academies in Scotland are at Lennoxtown and Murray Park, yet neither Celtic nor Rangers has much of a history of giving their pro-youth players first-team football. That may change as both Ronny Deila and Mark Warburton are making different noises, but in Rangers' case especially a huge opportunity was wasted in recent seasons.

Or was it? If the elite young players are not resilient enough they won't succeed at any level of Scottish senior football, as Clyde maintain was the case with their loan signings last season.

Celtic's tie-up with St Ninians High in Kirkintilloch is the model upon which the SFA performance schools have been established. While we are still waiting to see if the model - and Celtic's is more intensive than the SFA's - will produce footballers who can make a difference, at least those who are involved will emerge with a good education and strong self-discipline to help them.

Hearts, under Craig Levein and Ann Budge, are also seeking to establish best practice, as are Hibs across Edinburgh, and Aberdeen. The performance strategy has also, for the first time, introduced measurements by which young footballers can now be properly evaluated for improvement.

Although much of this series on Club Academy Scotland has been negative, it would be remiss not to mention that I have met good, committed people working as heads of youth in our clubs. But with the SFA having directed £2.2m in grants towards Club Academy Scotland last season, good and committed is not enough. We needs results.

"When I carried out my review [in 2010]," says Gray, "the attitude of the clubs was just give us the money - we're perfectly capable of developing our own players. They weren't, and I would need an awful lot of evidence to show that some of them now are.

"There are exceptions, the likes of Celtic, Aberdeen and to an extent Dundee Utd, but my conclusion for the Youth Initiative was that it had raised the bar - but it was to a higher level of mediocrity."