Wotte Leaves SFA Role

Photo by Jeff Holmes

Mark Wotte has left his role as Scottish Football Association performance director. The Dutchman joined the SFA in June 2011 to oversee the SFA's performance strategy across all age groups. In an SFA statement, Wotte said: "I am proud to have been the Scottish FA's first performance director leading this nationwide project and I leave safe in the knowledge that this great football nation is on the rise again."

Wotte believes he has achieved what he was asked to do, by putting a strategy in place which has seen seven regional performance schools set up. The former Southampton manager said: "With the performance schools now into their third year, the successes in qualification for finals by our national youth teams, and of course the great work by Gordon Strachan and Anna Signeul in the men's and women's A squads, I am confident that Scottish football is on the path to success again. "I have absolutely loved my time in Scotland and have been grateful for the excellent support of my coaching team, performance department staff and, of course, the member clubs. However, my job was to implement the strategy to move Scottish football forward: clearly the structure is now fully in place and Scottish football will continue to see the benefits in coming years. "I feel I have completed the tasks I was set and I am delighted with the swift progress but I am really looking forward to a new challenge." SFA chief executive Stewart Regan added: "On behalf of the board and staff at the Scottish FA I would like to thank Mark for taking the performance strategy from an ambitious goal in the early days of our strategic plan, Scotland United: A 2020 Vision, to an exciting reality. "In just over three years, we have already seen signs of great progress and I would reiterate my thanks to Mark for providing such a solid foundation on which to build future success for Scottish football."