THEY may have been all but ignored amid the outcry over his appointment as the new SFA Performance Director, but Malky Mackay made several sensible points about the way ahead for Scottish football last week.

He might have spent more time fielding questions about the text messages and emails he sent during his time as manager of Cardiff City which were "disrespectful to other cultures" than actually discussing his new position.

But when he was asked for his thoughts on how halt the alarming decline in standards in our national game and develop more talented footballers, Mackay made several perceptive observations.

Read more: SFA and SPFL are "unwilling or incapable" of protecting the rights of children in the pro-youth set-up

None of them were especially ground-breaking. His predecessor Brian McClair, for example, repeatedly emphasised the need to get our best youngsters out on loan and playing senior football on a regular basis at an earlier age.

Still, it was encouraging to hear him pick up on many of the key issues, one in particular, which he will need to be address if he is to be a success in the role.

"Our Scotland Under-16s, 17s and 19s in general do well," said Mackay. "The problem we have got at the moment is with our 19 to 21-year-olds. That’s where the glass ceiling hits.

"The Celtic and Rangers players in those 16s, 17s and 19s make up about 50 per cent of the sides. That goes down to 13 per cent at 21 level. There are elite players who don’t play first team football."

Read more: SFA and SPFL are "unwilling or incapable" of protecting the rights of children in the pro-youth set-up

Celtic and Rangers are our largest and richest clubs and have by far the most extensive youth set-ups. Precious few of their products, though, make the breakthrough.

The demands on the manager at Celtic and Rangers are far greater than at any other Ladbrokes Premiership club which makes blooding kids a far more precarious exercise.

If there are calls for your sacking after two consecutive defeats are your really going to put your faith in a promising, but inexperienced, teenager?

The Parkhead and Ibrox clubs, the former in particular, also have greater resources which enables them to sign internationalists. A kid has to be truly exceptional to force his way through.

Barrie McKay has flourished under Mark Warburton at Rangers and capped his first first full season in the first team by winning his debut cap against France in June.

But the winger is the only player who has come through the ranks at Auchenhowie who has featured on a regular basis under Warburton.

Across the city, Kieran Tierney went from strength to strength under Brendan Rodgers and won his second Scotland cap against Slovakia before he picked up an ankle injury later that month. The left back, though, is the only recent Lennoxtown alumnus to be involved.

Entering Celtic and Rangers under-20 teams into League Two, something which has been mooted by "Project Brave", would be an interesting experiment.

Anything which can aid the development of the Glasgow clubs' best kids and get more of them playing at senior level is worthwhile trying because at the moment a potent resource is not being fully utilised.

AND ANOTHER THING

The performance of Hearts against Partick Thistle on Saturday may have failed to impress, but how Ian Cathro conducted himself following his first game at Tynecastle most certainly did.

Cathro was, despite being booed by sizeable sections of the home support for his second-half substitutions and at the final whistle, calm and considered after the 1-1 draw.

His declaration that his team would never revert to a "broken game" in order to secure a result was especially admirable. “I don’t think that will ever be the case," he said. "I’ll never believe football to be that way.”

It will be fascinating finding out in the coming months if the 30-year-old, Scotland's youngest ever top flight manager, remains true to his footballing philosophy.

Read more: SFA and SPFL are "unwilling or incapable" of protecting the rights of children in the pro-youth set-up

Mark Warburton, his Rangers counterpart, has certainly softened his hard line stance on his team utilising a more direct style of play in recent weeks with, it must be said, impressive results.

Warburton has repeatedly stressed his team would never play "route one" football since moving to this country last year and as recently as last month stated "we’re never going to be long ball, that’s not how we play".

Rangers have, though, benefitted greatly from a change of tactics in recent weeks after experiencing difficulties against opposition teams who were pressing them high up the park in order to disrupt their patient build-up play.

Wins over Aberdeen and Hearts at Ibrox and Hamilton at the SuperSeal Stadium in the last three weeks have seen them move into second spot in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

Will Cathro still insist that Hearts play the "right way" when his team is desperately needing an equaliser in the closing stages of a match and he is getting dog's abuse from the stands? Watch this space.