Scottish FA poised to name new head of coaching
A new Scottish Football Association head of coaching will be appointed in "a week or so", performance director Malky Mackay has confirmed.
Mackay's implementation of Project Brave, a series of recommendations aimed at improving the elite pathway for young players, is under way.
And amid several new proposals, the 29 current club academies will be reduced to a maximum of 16, the number of academy players will be reduced from 2,500 to 1,200, summer football for young players will be introduced and reserve football will be brought back.
Mackay speaking at Braidhurst High School in Motherwell, one of seven regional performance schools operated by the SFA throughout the country, revealed that a head of coaching will soon be recruited to help club coaches.
He said: "Someone is nearly ready to be appointed and that will be done in the next week or so.
"It is someone I feel that is able to talk to every club, who has experience, well versed in Scottish football.
"Between him, myself and the Scottish national coaches we are going to get out to the clubs week on week so that the SFA presence within football clubs becomes the norm.
"I have asked 12 clubs so far and I will be getting round as many clubs as I can in the near future but not one club has said no.
"There is no conflict of interest, it is about trying to educate clubs' coaches, look at the best young players that we will hopefully select for Scotland so there is no downside.
"The only downside is that it needs to be done and we need to do it pretty soon, it is not something that has been done for a while."
While Mackay is looking towards the future of Scottish football, the hot topic of debate at the moment concerns the director of football/head coach model of management - a route Rangers have revealed they would look to go down following the departure of manager Mark Warburton.
Former Watford, Cardiff and Wigan boss Mackay said: "I have worked in that scenario before and it is correct for some clubs and not correct for other clubs.
"If a structure at a club shows that a chief executive is adept at dealing with the contract situations and there is a talent identification department at the football club which is well structured, then bringing an experienced manager in is what you do.
"If it is a club where there is a vacuum maybe in terms of their football intelligence, in terms of what they think football-wise is needing done, then maybe a director of football is needed alongside a young head coach.
"It is not one size fits all. It is what the structure at a club at a football club looks like."