They're fast becoming the Gucci man bags of European football. The essential fashion accessory which no self respecting club would be seen dead without.
Suddenly – and almost overnight – young, Scottish football players have become the new must-have item for some of the most fashionable, image conscious leagues in the world. Over the last couple of days, Lewis Ferguson and Josh Doig have been paraded at Bologna and Verona as Italy’s Serie A continues its recent trend towards Serie Aye – having already said yes to trailblazers Liam Henderson and Aaron Hickey.
With Hickey, Nathan Patterson and Calvin Ramsay joining Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney, John McGinn and Billy Gilmour in England’s Premier League, it feels for the first time in a long, long time as if Scottish football has become all the rage. It really has been a remarkable transformation given that our game has spent so long being cast aside by the rest of the continent like a perennial ugly duckling.
And few people have worked harder over the years to oversee this blossoming than national Under-21 boss Scot Gemmill who, at some point, has walked almost every single one of them out on to the international stage. And he credits three players in particular – Robertson, Tierney and McGinn – for becoming the early trendsetters at Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa.
“It all feels very different, very exciting,” Gemmill nodded as he talked to Record Sport about the sudden upsurge in Scottish football’s status. “Robertson, Tierney and McGinn are obviously making an impact at the very top level. But what they have achieved is now trickling down to all levels of the Scottish game.
“These guys have made themselves incredible examples of what young Scottish players can achieve if they are given the opportunity because they are influencing games at the highest level. But then you look at the likes of Calvin, making a breakthrough in the Scottish Premiership at Aberdeen and now getting his opportunity to follow in Andy’s footsteps at Anfield.
“Yes, he might be slightly further back in the journey at this point in his development but there’s no doubt, what these guys have achieved down there has opened people’s eyes to the standard of players being produced north of the border. It’s a similar story with Nathan Patterson and Billy Gilmour.
“But there are some really good examples of even younger kids making moves to big clubs – guys like Kerr Smith and Rory Wilson going to Aston Villa from Dundee United and Rangers. Stuart McKinstry went from Motherwell to Leeds and Josh Reid moved to Coventry from Ross County.
“I could come up with more examples but the point is, Scottish football is now seen as a place ripe with young talent at all different age levels. It’s not just one or two players making these moves, it’s a whole wave of them at one time. That’s why it’s so exciting.
“Now look at Lewis moving to Bologna and how many first-team games he has under his belt. These guys have got really strong CVs in footballing terms because they’ve been playing proper man’s football from a very young age.
“They are showing they can do it at that level, where the result actually matters. And the more our clubs are prepared to play these young guys, the more experience they will get.
“I actually spoke about this at a recent Under-21 camp – it’s a no-brainer to me that the clubs should be playing these young guys and taking a more strategic, business-orientated view to development. Lewis and Josh heading to Serie A just shows how well that model can work and what our clubs stand to gain from placing more faith in their most talented kids at an early age.
“In England they are starting to realise they’ve not got it quite right. From this summer, the Premier League II will be an Under-21 league rather than Under-23. These kids have spent too long playing academy football. But up here, our young players have an edge and an advantage by playing first-team football – it makes them more sought after – and you are starting to see the proof of that now.
“Hopefully this will encourage Scottish clubs to rely on more young players because, if you dig through the data, the statistics are still low.” Even so, it does feel, almost overnight, as if our game has managed to crack the code.
Gemmill – who has spent the last 20 years as a Scotland coach battering his head against a variety of brick walls – went on: “Yes, I agree and it’s very exciting. But it’s also happening for good reasons. One of the biggest factors has been the work done at performance school level. I’ve coached all the age groups from Under-15s to 21s so I’ve seen the improvement.
“I will argue with anybody that they are working and have significantly improved the level of players we are producing. Credit also has to go to Club Academy Scotland because there’s a lot of good work going on there too, day in, day out.
“When we get these guys at national youth team level we only have them for 25-30 days a year. But the performance schools have them on a day-to-day basis. And the evidence is starting to pile up that they must be doing something right!
“The players also deserve credit as individuals. Not only have these young guys taken their opportunities and reached a level where clubs want to sign them but they are also displaying ambition and courage to say, ‘Yes, I like the sound of moving away from home. That’s a challenge I want to take on!’.
“You have to give them enormous credit for that because, one by one, they are changing the way that the rest of the world looks at Scottish football and sending out a message that our game is alive and thriving.”
