Well, there you have it. The age-old debate over what was more bombproof, the cold-war era Cheyenne Mountain Complex - a self-contained city built deep into a Colorado mountain with the ability to withstand a nuclear explosion 2000 times more powerful than the blast at Hiroshima - or Scot Gemmill, has finally been settled.
It is fair to say that the news of Gemmill’s departure after 13 years as a Scottish FA youth coach, including 10 as the head coach of the Scotland under-21s and four failed attempts to reach the European Championships with nary a playoff to even speak of, didn’t exactly inspire a period of mourning among followers of the national side.
Though, given the cliched but stubborn ‘bowling club committee’ perception of their governance that the SFA have been trying to shake off for decades now, it did inspire a bout or two of the heebie-jeebies among the Tartan Army that Gemmill may have been lined up to take on the big job. Thankfully, there seems about as much chance of that as there is of Berti Vogts being offered a second crack at it.
There is little point in sharpening the hatchet and going over old ground on Gemmill’s tenure, a man who seemed fundamentally decent, but whose familiarity with failure had long since bred contempt among the masses, his popularity not helped either by the seemingly invincible status he enjoyed within the SFA no matter the depths his team would plumb.
Those days are past now, and all that. And thankfully, in the past, they must remain. What matters now is what happens next.
The man who it seems is primarily responsible for charting that fresh course is the SFA’s new Chief Football Officer Craig Mulholland, the former Head of Football Development & Talent Management at Nottingham Forest and Academy Director at Rangers.
With both the senior men’s dugout and the Scotland under-21 head coach role to fill, it is quite the baptism of fire for the 56-year-old, who was only appointed as a successor to Andy Gould on May 27th.
Given that Steve Clarke signed his now infamous four-year contract extension the following day, how much of the responsibility Mulholland can bear for that fiasco is questionable, and he’ll be glad of the benefit of any doubt.
One does wonder though that with Clarke taking his leave following the disappointment of another group exit at a major tournament, whether the departure of Gemmill is a related matter, with Mulholland identifying a golden opportunity to ensure alignment across the age groups.
Scotland are no Spain, lamentably, but one thing we can surely glean from their success that could be implemented here is that they have a clear and identifiable style of play, an identity that is hammered into their players from a very young age. What are the hallmarks of a Scotland side?
Here, under Gemmill’s watch, even our under-21s weren’t playing in a similar fashion nor often formation to our senior team. As there was so much apathy around the team too - with Gemmill’s decision to plough his own tactical path only leading to a win percentage in the low 30s – our young prospects were routinely playing in front of empty stadiums too. When turning out in the same strips is the only similarity to the conditions you might expect at the top level, the under-21 side had almost become a futile enterprise.
To change this, Mulholland and the SFA must be bold. And that goes deeper than ensuring the right hand knows what the left is doing between the senior and under-21 manager’s offices. Though, that would be a good start.
In the statement announcing Mulholland’s appointment, it was noted that his role at Forest ‘involved leading on strategy on both the men’s and women’s side, driving performance and organisational alignment, and he was responsible for all talent pathways.’ Which sounds promising.
Mulholland added: “When I heard the desire and willingness from Mike (Mulraney), as President, and Ian (Maxwell), as CEO, to really implement an exciting period of growth and change here in Scotland, it was something I was excited about, delighted to accept, and privileged to be asked to lead.”
Well, now is his chance.
The first step, of course, is to define what our identity is. What should a Scotland team look like? What qualities do our players need to possess in order to carry it out? What skills and technique do they currently lack, and how do we go about remedying that?
The SFA published a report last year into the transition phase, the ages between 16 and 21, when so many talented Scottish kids seem to fall by the wayside. It proposed the closing of Performance Schools, with a greater emphasis on opening up first team opportunities for young players through innovations like co-operation agreements, and on improving technique by getting more balls at the feet of kids from just about the moment they can walk.
Who would be responsible for that wasn’t clear. Would we be relying on parents? With the architects of the paper – Gould and the SFA’s then Head of Men’s Elite Strategy Chris Docherty - both having since left the building, it will be interesting to see if Mulholland picks up the baton with their ideas, or if he has his own thoughts on how to improve the standard of player we can produce, and how we can forge a successful future as a national side.
Strategy papers may be nothing new to Scottish football, and viewed somewhat wearily after Henry McLeish and Mark Wotte both produced their own visions for the future of our game, but the landscape seems ripe and the appetite seems clear from the Scottish football public now for Mulholland to lay out his own clear, long-term aims for the national side, and what we can do in the here and now to get there.
From what I’ve heard of Mulholland from those who know him far better than I do from within the game, I’d expect nothing less over the coming days and weeks.
Not to denigrate Clarke in particular, given the three major tournaments he led the national side to during his tenure, but with both him and Gemmill now gone, there has rarely been a better opportunity to establish what Scotland’s identity should be, and to run that thread right through the national set-up.
Over to you, Craig.
