In the wake of Craig Brown’s departure as manager of Scotland’s national football squad, there have been the predictable claims of a dearth of talent in the country. There is no sign of a new Denis Law or Kenny Dalglish emerging and fingers have been pointed in all directions in frustration at the team’s failure to qualify for the World Cup.

Stewart Neilson, coach to the Scotland under-16 schoolboys squad, is better qualified than most to assess the health of the game in the country. His team is traditionally the first indicator of the nation’s future football talent.

He has worked closely with Scotland international players such as Colin Hendry and Eoin Jess and, as head of physical education at Banff Academy, also sees what is happening at grassroots level.

He believes that Scottish football faces a period of self-examination at all levels. In the past, football was often seen as the only means of social escape. However, times have changed and not only are there more distractions for potential players, but also there are more opportunities. The pool of youngsters to draw upon is shallower.

Given the inflated transfer fees across Europe, Scottish clubs know that investing in young talent is vital for their future. Dutch side Ajax has been adept at producing players over the past 20 years and is content to sell players on and reinvest the money in its youth development system. Scottish clubs are now establishing soccer academies and taking a closer interest in the young than ever before.

Mr Neilson believes it is time to take care of the best interests of young players as much as the future well-being of the big clubs and the national team.

“The game is so fragmented and I think the Scottish Football Association has to take some of the responsibility for that,” he says. “It has done a great job at educating coaches and our system is respected the world over. But youngsters can still be exposed to various levels of coaching at youth and school level. A lot of it is to do with economics and people having different aims. The SFA and the Scottish Premier League have to get together to look at all levels of football.”

Mr Neilson is careful not to fall into regimented playing systems when he works with young players but, with most of his squad attached to professional clubs, he knows there can be conflicts.

“There is a growing trend for clubs to play the same system from first-team level down to youth teams, so that if players are injured they have a ready-made replacement,” he explains. “I think it is better for young players to experience different roles when they are developing, so that they are not pigeon-holed.

“The approach to coaching young players is different in other countries. In Holland, for example, they use their best coaches to work with the youngest players so that they are given the best grounding.

“The situation has gone full-circle at Ajax, where they were using small-sided games for young players and now are back playing 11-a-side.

“I still think the seven-a-side game is a great way of teaching skills but there is always a difficult transition from Primary 7 to 11-a-side at secondary school, where they have still to learn basic tactical awareness.”

With so many foreign players having infiltrated the Scottish game in recent years, there are a limited number of opportunities for Scottish players breaking through. Craig Brown, on occasions, found himself turning to players who could not get a regular first-team place. Billy Dodds, at Rangers, is an example.

“There has been criticism of Rangers and Celtic not giving enough chances to young Scottish players but the Old Firm is producing players. If they do not make it there, then they can somewhere else. Peter McDonald, at St Johnstone, is a good example of this.

“Something like the Rangers academy can only be good for young players as they are learning good habits, not only from the coaches but also from the professionals. The foreign players are good in this respect as they are careful with such things as their diet and nutrition.

“It is something we have taken on board with the schools’ teams. Each boy is given advice and, on a match day, we encourage them to have a sleep in the afternoon.”

Mr Neilson would like to see a safety net in place so that young players who fail to make the grade with the top clubs are given a second chance where possible.

“Clubs have to take more responsibility for players that they discard,” he says. “I have a view that you are never too old but some have the view that if a player does not make it at 16, 17, 18, then they are past it. This is not the case and there are many examples of players developing in later years.

“In France, the top clubs have a system where if they are discard a player they are duty bound to try to find him a lower division club. I’d like to see the same thing here.”

Meanwhile, Mr Neilson is optimistic that lessons will have been learned by his schoolboys’ team from their opening Victory Shield game earlier this month. He watched as they lost a 4-1 lead against Wales in the final 15 minutes, leaking three goals for a 4-4 draw. However, Scotland was dominant for an hour and drew praise from many quarters.