0:00:00 > 0:00:00It's unbelievable in Bratislava.
0:00:02 > 0:00:06The soul of Scottish football still hangs in the balance,
0:00:06 > 0:00:11torn between the passion of the fans and commercial pressures,
0:00:11 > 0:00:16unsure which way to turn and lacking in confidence.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18I think, to perform at the highest level in any sport,
0:00:18 > 0:00:22you've got to have an incredible amount of self-belief.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26Maybe right now we are a wee bit short of that in the football world.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30If you looked at the cold, harsh reality of the quality fare
0:00:30 > 0:00:33that's being served up, I think you would go and jump in the Clyde.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42Success lies in the past...
0:00:43 > 0:00:46..as experts are always quick to point out.
0:00:46 > 0:00:51There was a time, if the Scottish squad walked down Piccadilly Circus,
0:00:51 > 0:00:53everyone would have known who they were.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56If the current Scottish squad walked down Sauchiehall Street,
0:00:56 > 0:00:59I'm not sure most of them would be instantly recognisable.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01But one thing is clear...
0:01:01 > 0:01:04We need to change. We need to do things differently.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07..everyone has an opinion.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10It's almost inevitable that a country of 5.3 million people
0:01:10 > 0:01:12is going to suffer amongst the giants.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16It's a minnow in terms of competitive capacity.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Blueprints, reports, commissions set up.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23You don't need a blueprint. Go to Georgia and beat them.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28The same questions have been raised over and over again -
0:01:28 > 0:01:30maybe it's time for some new ones...
0:01:31 > 0:01:34..and to face up to the possibility that, for Scotland,
0:01:34 > 0:01:35the game may well be up.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51The fans are the lifeblood of the game and the sooner that the people
0:01:51 > 0:01:56in football realise this, the better it will be for each individual club.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Jock Stein, one of the greatest football managers of all time,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04understood what the game meant to supporters.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08His comments, made 50 years ago, are just as relevant today.
0:02:11 > 0:02:12Football without fans is nothing.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14It can be the greatest game in the world -
0:02:14 > 0:02:16if there are no people there to watch it, it becomes nothing.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22Fans support their teams from cradle to grave,
0:02:22 > 0:02:25often unquestioningly,
0:02:25 > 0:02:27but with an intense devotion.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29HE SHOUTS
0:02:29 > 0:02:31THEY CHANT
0:02:31 > 0:02:35I think, with football, there's a kind of risk-benefit equation
0:02:35 > 0:02:37in that, emotionally,
0:02:37 > 0:02:40you have to invest in it to get something out of it,
0:02:40 > 0:02:45and so people can become too emotionally invested in it.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48At the same time, if you don't invest in it emotionally,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51you don't feel anything when your team wins,
0:02:51 > 0:02:53you don't feel anything when your team loses.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01The thing about the fan, I suppose is, if I'm a fan,
0:03:01 > 0:03:04I don't necessarily change my team.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06There's a way in which, over the years,
0:03:06 > 0:03:09I think Scottish football probably has exploited that.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12They have taken them, to some extent, for granted,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16but they also realise that the fan has an intensity
0:03:16 > 0:03:18and an emotional engagement,
0:03:18 > 0:03:23which you can transfer financially, into a financial engagement,
0:03:23 > 0:03:27but you need to understand that relationship with them.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31It's a relationship that relies on long-term loyalty,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34but the game is in decline.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36While committed fans will hang on,
0:03:36 > 0:03:40clubs often struggle to find new fans in the same numbers...
0:03:40 > 0:03:41HE SCREAMS
0:03:41 > 0:03:44..with the same level of commitment.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48HE SCREAMS
0:03:48 > 0:03:53As money and media become more and more important to the game,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Scottish football is struggling to find its place
0:03:56 > 0:03:59and draw a big enough audience in a globalised market,
0:03:59 > 0:04:02where there is already endless choice.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07Not so long ago, it was a much simpler world.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09Highlight of recent wartime sport
0:04:09 > 0:04:11was the international at Hampden Park.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15133,000 people watched and certainly got their money's worth.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19The communities that provided those crowds have gone,
0:04:19 > 0:04:22but football still draws loyal fans.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26Scotland proportionately still has more people going to football
0:04:26 > 0:04:30matches week in, week out, than any other nation in Europe.
0:04:30 > 0:04:35Whether it still means what it meant in the 1930s, the 1940s,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38I seriously doubt, because society has changed,
0:04:38 > 0:04:39the workplace has changed,
0:04:39 > 0:04:44the patterns of how we receive and gain entertainment has changed,
0:04:44 > 0:04:47and the loyalty that people felt to a single community,
0:04:47 > 0:04:50that they would turn up every Saturday supporting the community,
0:04:50 > 0:04:52has changed as well.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55Fans do still turn up to the big occasions,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58but the more mundane routine of Scottish club football
0:04:58 > 0:05:00has, in many cases, seen crowds decline...
0:05:03 > 0:05:07..just as the commercial pressures have increased.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Football has always been a battleground.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14First of all, it's actually a business, but also it has a kind of
0:05:14 > 0:05:17profile, so you have television,
0:05:17 > 0:05:21you have club owners, who are in this very strange position
0:05:21 > 0:05:24where they rely on everybody because they play in a league,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27but they're also in tense rivalry with those people in the league,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30so, you know, there are kind of alliances that are put together,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33but actually they quite often fall apart very quickly.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35And then, in addition to that, you have the fans,
0:05:35 > 0:05:37who don't always speak with one voice,
0:05:37 > 0:05:41you have sponsors, you have a whole range of stakeholders...
0:05:41 > 0:05:45I suppose, and we wouldn't have used that word in 1985,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48but that would be how we would describe them now.
0:05:48 > 0:05:49And the problem, quite often,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52is that the agendas are often in conflict
0:05:52 > 0:05:56in terms of trying to pull those groups together.
0:05:56 > 0:06:01CHEERING
0:06:01 > 0:06:03Everyone agrees on one thing...
0:06:07 > 0:06:09..when the game is good...
0:06:10 > 0:06:12..it's truly beautiful.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15COMMENTATOR: That's Lorimer.
0:06:15 > 0:06:16Oh! What a shot that way.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18Law... And a goal!
0:06:21 > 0:06:22There's Kenny Dalglish in there.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25What a goal! Oh, yes!
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Scotland had a constant supply of great players in the '60s,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34'70s, '80s, but, with one or two exceptions,
0:06:34 > 0:06:36that era is long gone.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41Since the inception of the Champions League in 1993,
0:06:41 > 0:06:44over 400 players have been awarded winners medals -
0:06:44 > 0:06:46only two of them were Scots.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49Darren Fletcher for Manchester United
0:06:49 > 0:06:52and Paul Lambert with Borussia Dortmund.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59In 1996, Lambert attended trials in Germany,
0:06:59 > 0:07:01where he was signed by the club.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05There he discovered just what made German teams so successful.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09It was that era where the Germans were really prominent in
0:07:09 > 0:07:10European football -
0:07:10 > 0:07:12Schalke had won the UEFA Cup,
0:07:12 > 0:07:14Germany had won the Euro '96.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18Dortmund were Champions League winners.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22So, German football at that time was powerful.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24I was under no illusions how hard this was going to be.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27Coming from Scotland, you have to have a mind-set of -
0:07:27 > 0:07:28you have to change.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31You have to adapt to the Germans, not them adapting to me.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33I had to adapt to them.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36It becomes a job.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38You very rarely get a day off.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40You're always training.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42I fell into a right good side.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45The Dortmund lads, every one of them were...
0:07:45 > 0:07:46were excellent with me, so...
0:07:46 > 0:07:48You've got to want to do it
0:07:48 > 0:07:51and you've got to have a bit of luck on your side to get it.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57The Dortmund team was full of established and rising stars,
0:07:57 > 0:08:00including experienced goalkeeper Stefan Klaas.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08So I was on the back of the bus and you could hear a pin drop.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Stefan Klaus said to me, "How are you feeling?"
0:08:11 > 0:08:14I went, "Pff, I'm all right." I said, "What about you?"
0:08:14 > 0:08:15And I could see his leg...
0:08:15 > 0:08:16kind of tapping, you know?
0:08:22 > 0:08:24I went, "Are you all right?"
0:08:24 > 0:08:26He went, "Yeah, I'm all right, but look at everybody else."
0:08:26 > 0:08:28And that is guys that had won the World Cup
0:08:28 > 0:08:30and European Championships,
0:08:30 > 0:08:32and Bundesliga titles and Serie A titles.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37And I was like, "Oof, we have to win.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40"We have to win."
0:08:40 > 0:08:43One of the biggest names and most talented players in the
0:08:43 > 0:08:47history of football was on the opposing team that night -
0:08:47 > 0:08:48Zinedine Zidane.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55My job was, more or less, to nullify Zidane on that front.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Lambert's dedication and fitness,
0:09:02 > 0:09:06honed by a punishing German training regime, paid dividends.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Karl Riedle scored two great goals.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16Lars Ricken scored one of the best goals, I think,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19in Champions League football with his first touch of the ball.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22As soon as that goal went in, I knew it was finished.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28And then, after the game, it was just mayhem.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31CHANTING: Paul Lambert!
0:09:38 > 0:09:41Brilliant occasion, that. I mean, to win the Champions League is...
0:09:41 > 0:09:45You don't realise how big that is until you actually win it.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48There's no two ways about it.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51You became...super-confident.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54You thought you were unbeatable...
0:09:54 > 0:09:55And... And that's what it taught you.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58And people would say, "What's the German attack like?"
0:09:58 > 0:10:00That's exactly what it's like. "We'll win."
0:10:00 > 0:10:05Anybody I played against after that, it didn't faze me one bit.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10He brought that confidence back to Scotland when
0:10:10 > 0:10:13he returned to play for Celtic,
0:10:13 > 0:10:18helping them reach the 2003 UEFA Cup final in Seville,
0:10:18 > 0:10:20where they played Porto.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24CHANTING
0:10:24 > 0:10:2770-odd-thousand Celtic fans descended upon Seville,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30not all were able to get tickets for the game,
0:10:30 > 0:10:32but it was a sight to behold.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36You could have played in any stadium in the world that night...
0:10:36 > 0:10:40and I will guarantee it would have been 80% full of Celtic fans.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48Nothing can take away from the fact that we lost the game,
0:10:48 > 0:10:52we lost the match in extra time to a very, very poor goal, and...
0:10:52 > 0:10:54And that was a massive disappointment.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00I think probably the biggest regret I've got in football is not
0:11:00 > 0:11:02winning that trophy that year.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07It would have been great to sit here with two winner European medals.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09That's... That's a disappointment.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14They may have lost that match,
0:11:14 > 0:11:18but Paul Lambert had demonstrated the ability to play consistently
0:11:18 > 0:11:21at the highest level, a rare trait in the Scottish game.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27One man willing to embrace techniques,
0:11:27 > 0:11:30who also came with a reputation for physical fitness,
0:11:30 > 0:11:33was former Scotland international John Collins.
0:11:35 > 0:11:40Collins had played in the French league for Monaco.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45I look back now and it was probably the best move of my life...
0:11:45 > 0:11:49not just in football, but in seeing things from a different perspective.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53From a football and a training point of view,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56it was the hardest two years of my career.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00Morning, afternoon, double sessions regularly, training camps...
0:12:00 > 0:12:02It was seven days a week.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04Strict diets, body fats...
0:12:04 > 0:12:07But, when you want to get to the top and stay at the top,
0:12:07 > 0:12:09that's why they produce champions - they do it right.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11They train properly.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18In 2006, John Collins was appointed Hibs manager.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23His ambition was to bring the work rate of the players up to the
0:12:23 > 0:12:27level he had experienced in France.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Early the next year, his team reached the league cup final.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32In the weeks before the match,
0:12:32 > 0:12:37he was keen to push the players to an even higher level of fitness.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40I went to the board and said, "Look, can I get a training camp?"
0:12:40 > 0:12:43For me, it was the perfect five days preparing.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46But some of the players weren't happy.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48They thought they were going on a stag night.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51They thought.... They wanted nights out.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54But Scottish training camp and a French training camp is
0:12:54 > 0:12:56worlds apart...
0:12:56 > 0:12:59And there was only one way I was going to do it,
0:12:59 > 0:13:01and that was the way I did it as a player.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04The training camp was a huge success.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06What do you want from a training camp? No injuries,
0:13:06 > 0:13:08come back ready to go,
0:13:08 > 0:13:10and that's exactly what we got. No injuries.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12Came back for the cup final
0:13:12 > 0:13:14and they put on the performance of their lives.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17CHEERING
0:13:17 > 0:13:21I was proved it was the right way to do it. We played terrific.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24COMMENTATOR: And Steven Fletcher nets the fifth goal.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29Very rarely you win a cup final with five goals...
0:13:29 > 0:13:31and a terrific performance.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36It was a special moment,
0:13:36 > 0:13:39maybe the most special moment of my career, I've got to say...certainly.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44# My tears are crying
0:13:44 > 0:13:48# My tears are crying... #
0:13:50 > 0:13:54Hampden, Hibs fans singing Sunshine On Leith at the end of it.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00I'd lost my father a couple of months before,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04so it was a sad time, but I was on the park thinking
0:14:04 > 0:14:07he would have loved to have been there singing and hearing that.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09That would have been special.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12For me, that was... It was a great feeling.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18Despite that success,
0:14:18 > 0:14:22Collins found himself in the middle of a player rebellion.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29They had complained to the club chairman about the training regime.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33Talk of unrest in the Hibs dressing room persists tonight,
0:14:33 > 0:14:34despite manager John Collins'
0:14:34 > 0:14:36attempt to calm the waters.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39There was a few complaints...
0:14:39 > 0:14:41They didn't get their own way.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44There... There's two ways of looking at it, of course.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46You've got to try and keep players happy,
0:14:46 > 0:14:48but I think it's more important
0:14:48 > 0:14:50that the players keep the coach and staff happy.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52But...trust me...
0:14:52 > 0:14:55The way I did it was what I thought was right...
0:14:55 > 0:14:58for them, as individual players, to make them better young players.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04He had taken the team to their first trophy for 16 years,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07but the damage was done.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11Collins departed Hibernian,
0:15:11 > 0:15:14saying he had achieved all he could.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23For the game to survive at the top level,
0:15:23 > 0:15:27there needs to be a continual supply of good young players ready
0:15:27 > 0:15:29to move into the elite game.
0:15:29 > 0:15:34If that flow stops then that failure will soon become apparent.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39COMMENTATOR: Oh, it's a great goal...!
0:15:39 > 0:15:42It has now been almost two decades since Scotland
0:15:42 > 0:15:45have competed at a World Cup or European Championship.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49Even as far back as 1982, when the international team had
0:15:49 > 0:15:51qualified to play at the World Cup in Spain
0:15:51 > 0:15:55and the youth teams were winning at international level,
0:15:55 > 0:15:57the warnings were already there.
0:15:57 > 0:16:02Andy Roxburgh won the European Under-18 Championship
0:16:02 > 0:16:04and he had the Under-20 team in the final of the World Cup.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08I had a team in the final, final, of the World Cup...
0:16:08 > 0:16:10Under-16.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14So, at that era, the end of the '80s, start of the '90s,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17we were as good as any country in the world
0:16:17 > 0:16:20at youth level, so what's gone wrong?
0:16:20 > 0:16:23Quite a number of things, I think.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Andy Roxburgh, the director of football at the time,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29and successful manager of Scotland international youth teams,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32had been studying the game closely.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37In the old days, we produced players almost by chance...
0:16:37 > 0:16:40because they would come out of this fantastic football
0:16:40 > 0:16:42environment that we had. Everybody was passionate about the game,
0:16:42 > 0:16:44everybody played in the streets,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47everybody played in their school teams, etc, etc.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50What's happened now is that that natural environment has changed -
0:16:50 > 0:16:54it's had to become artificially, if you like, created.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56The question is - chance or design?
0:16:56 > 0:16:58And I would say that the Scottish environment
0:16:58 > 0:17:00in the past was more about chance.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05The talent's appeared, but now it's got to be about design
0:17:05 > 0:17:07because they're no longer in the streets any more,
0:17:07 > 0:17:09it's not going to happen the way it did in the past.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Way back in 1982, I worked with Andy Roxburgh.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16He asked me to read this report that he was doing
0:17:16 > 0:17:18and in his report, he stated that
0:17:18 > 0:17:21the standard of players coming in to the professional game
0:17:21 > 0:17:24in Scotland would drop
0:17:24 > 0:17:27and that the numbers that were going to come in
0:17:27 > 0:17:30to the professional game would drop as well.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33And it always stuck with me cos I disagreed with it,
0:17:33 > 0:17:35but he was correct and I was wrong.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43Grassroots youth coaches are the most important coaches
0:17:43 > 0:17:47in this country, so we've got to get better on the training pitch.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51What are we doing? Are we doing enough working with the ball?
0:17:51 > 0:17:53And I don't mean one ball between 11 kids,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56I mean one ball, one kid to start with, from a young age.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59You can have all the tactics in the world, but if you've not
0:17:59 > 0:18:02got the fundamental skills of top-level players,
0:18:02 > 0:18:04then no coach in the world is going to win matches.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08On you go, Colin, on you go! Yeah!
0:18:08 > 0:18:11We've got to get back to ball mastery and, for me,
0:18:11 > 0:18:13that's the secret of developing world-class players.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16It's still a game at grassroots level.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20If there's mass participation, that's the key.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23The talents are a by-product of a good grassroots programme because
0:18:23 > 0:18:29the grassroots is your future fans, referees, administrators - the lot.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31And you hope that you'll spot, in the grassroots,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34one or two that you can put into your elite programmes.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38Now, it's the elite youth level that's the key thing here.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40And in places like in Spain, in Germany,
0:18:40 > 0:18:43I mean they've got them in the elite programmes
0:18:43 > 0:18:46when they're six, seven, eight, nine, ten years old.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48It's only about 11, 12, 13 years old
0:18:48 > 0:18:51that they would go into the clubs, into the professional game.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54You have to work really hard at it, of course, because you have
0:18:54 > 0:18:59to work so hard in the academy getting everything right,
0:18:59 > 0:19:01firstly, getting the scouting right,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04so that we get the best players in at the bottom end.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08We're going down the age groups far enough to get the young players
0:19:08 > 0:19:11connected with the club at seven, eight, nine years of age.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15Now, it seems an awful long way away from first-team football,
0:19:15 > 0:19:18but it's proven that if you get them into your system early enough,
0:19:18 > 0:19:20they'll generally stay through to the point
0:19:20 > 0:19:22where they reach the first team.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27But it's about more than the numbers
0:19:27 > 0:19:30or the age that the players start at.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34The only way to compete is to make sure that we're as good
0:19:34 > 0:19:39as the Germans and the Spanish when it comes to youth development
0:19:39 > 0:19:42and then that the players are exposed to the highest level
0:19:42 > 0:19:44of club competition they can be exposed to.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46We have to improve the quality of challenge.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50I see some of the Rangers youth teams play. How'd they get on?
0:19:50 > 0:19:53They won 8-1 and they won 10-2. There's no challenge.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58I refer back to the NextGen tournament where Man City had...
0:19:58 > 0:20:00They were fantastic by the way,
0:20:00 > 0:20:02magnificent approach to youth development.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05But they had won 8-1 on the Wednesday or the previous weekend
0:20:05 > 0:20:08and they played six and lost six in Europe.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11I think the following year, they played six and lost five.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14But they realised that that's the level they have to get to.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16The quality of challenge was appropriate,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19it really did take the players out of their comfort zones and the staff
0:20:19 > 0:20:20- they learned from their mistakes.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23And then, I think, three years later in the FA Youth Cup final,
0:20:23 > 0:20:25against Chelsea, so they learned.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27We have to do the same up here in Scotland -
0:20:27 > 0:20:29we have to improve the quality of challenge
0:20:29 > 0:20:30for our best young players.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34Our elite young players must be offered that type of opportunity
0:20:34 > 0:20:36and right now, I don't see it.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38I think the younger ones are kind of spoiled now,
0:20:38 > 0:20:41everything's put on a plate for them.
0:20:41 > 0:20:42We had to graft.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47I played reserve team football at 15 against men
0:20:47 > 0:20:51and, physically, you couldn't handle it
0:20:51 > 0:20:55but, mentally, you grew stronger and you grew stronger quicker.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57If you play underage football now, you go under-15,
0:20:57 > 0:21:01under-16, under-17 and I think it's under-20 now
0:21:01 > 0:21:03and you don't really play against men
0:21:03 > 0:21:05until you go and play in the first team.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09You're four or five years behind what we were in terms of mentality.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12I'm not saying ability-wise, I'm not talking about ability-wise,
0:21:12 > 0:21:14I just think it's a mentality.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17And you either grew up or you got shipped out - as simple as that.
0:21:24 > 0:21:25One club which has recognised
0:21:25 > 0:21:28that it's about more than just coaching
0:21:28 > 0:21:31and that it's also about giving young players
0:21:31 > 0:21:34experience on the pitch is Hamilton...
0:21:34 > 0:21:37and they have seen their policy pay off
0:21:37 > 0:21:40with two of the highest achieving players of the current generation -
0:21:40 > 0:21:43James McCarthy and James McArthur.
0:21:46 > 0:21:47I think Hamilton have probably,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49for me, got the best youth set-up in Scotland.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52The reason being is the fact that they're willing
0:21:52 > 0:21:53to give young players a chance, you know,
0:21:53 > 0:21:55and they'll play young players,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58they'll put them into the first team at a really early age
0:21:58 > 0:22:01and hope that they're good enough to go and compete
0:22:01 > 0:22:04and do well and not only that, but stick by them
0:22:04 > 0:22:07and stick with them over that period of time.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09CHEERING
0:22:09 > 0:22:11The two James's that have moved on, in particular,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14they're certainly the trailblazers for that
0:22:14 > 0:22:16and they've set the standard for everybody else.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18I remember we trained at Dalziel Park
0:22:18 > 0:22:21and we got a minibus from Hamilton across to Motherwell, trained there,
0:22:21 > 0:22:23and it could be mid-winter - raining, sleet -
0:22:23 > 0:22:27we're all on the bus waiting to go back home for a shower.
0:22:27 > 0:22:28Who are we waiting on?
0:22:28 > 0:22:31James McArthur, James McCarthy.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34They're still on the pitch, still working, still passing,
0:22:34 > 0:22:36first to ask an experienced guy a question -
0:22:36 > 0:22:39what are we doing here? Why are we doing this?
0:22:39 > 0:22:41Young players will surprise you.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44They'll surprise you in how well they adapt.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46They learn quickly,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49they problem-solve quickly and they get better quickly.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54After they came through the youth set-up at Hamilton,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56they both played for Wigan
0:22:56 > 0:23:00before McCarthy moved on to Everton and McArthur to Crystal Palace -
0:23:00 > 0:23:03the type of move to the English Premier League
0:23:03 > 0:23:09once common for Scottish footballers that is now a rare occurrence.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12My belief is if you're good enough, you're old enough,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16and that means that if there's a 16-year-old good enough, he goes in.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Clubs can be a bit more brave in terms of that.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21Give them a chance, throw them in -
0:23:21 > 0:23:23what's the worst thing that can happen?
0:23:28 > 0:23:31In France, Gerard Houllier made a rule -
0:23:31 > 0:23:34no top division club in France
0:23:34 > 0:23:37can sign more than 20 players
0:23:37 > 0:23:39over the age of 21.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42If you want more players, they've got to be under 21.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45At Monaco, they got three injured, two suspended,
0:23:45 > 0:23:47Tigana was the manager,
0:23:47 > 0:23:49and they were employing this rule.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52They brought in two 17-year-olds to the first team -
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Thierry Henry and Trezeguet.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59And two years later, they were in the French national team.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03Gillespie's free kick. Gough is up there with him.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05There's McCoist.
0:24:05 > 0:24:06Now Johnston!
0:24:06 > 0:24:09Yes, Scotland have scored!
0:24:09 > 0:24:13In 1990, we beat France to get to the World Cup.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17In 1994, France didn't qualify to go to America.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23They won it in 1998.
0:24:27 > 0:24:32The reason, I think, is that they had this rule.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36Every club was forced to promote young players and not bring in
0:24:36 > 0:24:40old ones and buy foreign ones, the way we've been doing in Scotland.
0:24:40 > 0:24:42So I went to an SFA meeting,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45it was called the Football Development Committee, and I said
0:24:45 > 0:24:48to them, "Here's a rule, it's not original,
0:24:48 > 0:24:52"Gerard Houllier introduced it in France - do that in Scotland."
0:24:52 > 0:24:57And the representatives from Celtic and Rangers voted against
0:24:57 > 0:25:00and the proposal was never instigated.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04The Old Firm argued that the youth rule would put them
0:25:04 > 0:25:06at a disadvantage in Europe.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08Is there a hat-trick in this match?
0:25:08 > 0:25:09There is!
0:25:11 > 0:25:14A short-term approach that has not yielded success
0:25:14 > 0:25:16as Scottish teams regularly exit Europe
0:25:16 > 0:25:18in the early qualifying rounds every year.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22It's unbelievable in Bratislava.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26It's Artmedia Bratislava 5, Celtic 0.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33By continuing with the same set-up,
0:25:33 > 0:25:37Scottish teams still continue to fail on the international stage.
0:25:56 > 0:26:01As the men's game falters, the women's team is on the rise.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04I'm happy with the fact that when we do get people at our games
0:26:04 > 0:26:07and when we do expose people to women's football,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10they appreciate it for the spectacle and the product that it is
0:26:10 > 0:26:12which is not the men's game - it's football, but it's football
0:26:12 > 0:26:15in a different way and I do think that we have a lot to give.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17I think we've got a tremendous amount to give to football
0:26:17 > 0:26:20in this country and I think what we can offer and what we can give,
0:26:20 > 0:26:22both internationally and domestically,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25would make this game stronger in Scotland.
0:26:26 > 0:26:31Society may have changed, but not everyone was keeping up.
0:26:31 > 0:26:32In September 2013,
0:26:32 > 0:26:36BBC Scotland presenter and tabloid journalist Tam Cowan
0:26:36 > 0:26:40wrote a scathing article about the Scotland women's team.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43I've written newspaper columns for 25 years.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47I thought it'd be more sexist that, for a quarter of a century,
0:26:47 > 0:26:53I had been taking the piss out of men and male footballers
0:26:53 > 0:26:56and not once had I had a go at the women.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58I thought that was very sexist.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07And then once I tried to redress the balance, what happens?
0:27:07 > 0:27:09My life gets turned upside down.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12It was horrible at the time, I'll no' tell you a lie, it was horrible.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15I remember, when I was stood down that day,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18coming in here at the BBC and got
0:27:18 > 0:27:21told what action was being taken
0:27:21 > 0:27:24and then I left just before 12:00,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27before we were due to go on air,
0:27:27 > 0:27:31with my jacket over my shoulder and the bottom lip trembling.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38The article provoked a massive outcry and Tam was suspended
0:27:38 > 0:27:42by the BBC for two weeks from his presenting job on Off The Ball.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46I think he misjudged the audience, he misjudged the readership,
0:27:46 > 0:27:47he misjudged the reaction it was going to have
0:27:47 > 0:27:50because the people that perhaps before would have said,
0:27:50 > 0:27:53"Ah, it's just a bit of banter, it's just a bit of this" actually said,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57"Well, hang on a second, that's too far. That's not the case."
0:27:57 > 0:28:01So, quite a pivotal moment in terms of changing the way in which
0:28:01 > 0:28:03people were seeing women's football and letting us know that they
0:28:03 > 0:28:06were seeing it in a different way as well.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Suddenly, on the sports fields, there were women centre-forwards,
0:28:10 > 0:28:14goalkeepers, right-backs, left-backs, and better halves.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18Women had spotted their goals and were now all-out to get them.
0:28:21 > 0:28:26The first official women's game took place in 1881 at Easter Road -
0:28:26 > 0:28:28Scotland vs England.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31The return leg was played in Glasgow
0:28:31 > 0:28:37and was abandoned due to a riot by the predominately male spectators.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40This led to the game being banned in Scotland.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45But during the First World War, the women's game blossomed.
0:28:47 > 0:28:51A Britain where now the women were taking the places of the men.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55A Britain at last fully gearing herself for modern war.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00Munitionettes were allowed to and even encouraged to play.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04Official games were played to raise money for charity.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07In 1918, Scotland vs England
0:29:07 > 0:29:11attracted a 7,000-strong crowd at Celtic Park.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17When the war ended,
0:29:17 > 0:29:21the women were expected to return to their pre-war lives.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25Their chance to play was short-lived.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31The SFA banned women's football from men's clubs.
0:29:31 > 0:29:37It wasn't until the early 1970s that that ban was effectively lifted.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44I think that if you look at some women's football,
0:29:44 > 0:29:47you see a number of quite significant changes that are
0:29:47 > 0:29:50going on in Scottish society more generally.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53Clearly, there's the kind of pre-eminence of women
0:29:53 > 0:29:55within Scottish public life,
0:29:55 > 0:29:57the fact that our First Minister is a woman,
0:29:57 > 0:30:00the fact that across a whole range of our national bodies,
0:30:00 > 0:30:02women are now pre-eminent or prominent
0:30:02 > 0:30:05within the development of our culture.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09You could not write the paradox and irony of that in
0:30:09 > 0:30:13a Scotland that has placed so much emphasis on maleness,
0:30:13 > 0:30:19on industrial working-class, it's lassies that are better.
0:30:24 > 0:30:28We're now in the fascinating moment where the women,
0:30:28 > 0:30:32in terms of their ability to qualify for European tournaments,
0:30:32 > 0:30:35are well in advance of the men and may well actually be
0:30:35 > 0:30:38the next national team to go to a major tournament.
0:30:40 > 0:30:44The Scottish international team play football at the elite level
0:30:44 > 0:30:48and includes players like Kim Little,
0:30:48 > 0:30:51who is one of the best female players in the world.
0:30:51 > 0:30:56Yet the women's game still receives very little acclaim.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59Well, unfortunately, it's not given enough space
0:30:59 > 0:31:02if there's not a big glamour game ahead.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05It's got a long way to go in that respect, but that's not the fault
0:31:05 > 0:31:08of women's football, that's the fault of the media.
0:31:08 > 0:31:10But you won't get the media exposure unless you've got the people
0:31:10 > 0:31:14turning up at games, so it's a difficult one to reconcile.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16You can have the best quality game ever,
0:31:16 > 0:31:18you can have the most exciting, most thrilling,
0:31:18 > 0:31:20some of the best skills, some of the best players...
0:31:20 > 0:31:23I mean, I could have a World Cup-winning team playing,
0:31:23 > 0:31:26but if we don't have any media there, if nobody's seeing it,
0:31:26 > 0:31:28then, you know, it won't increase.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34Football is now unashamedly big business.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37Media rights and an increase in technology over the last decades
0:31:37 > 0:31:40have given football a global platform
0:31:40 > 0:31:42and access to a worldwide audience,
0:31:42 > 0:31:45giving them a chance to increase their flow of money.
0:31:45 > 0:31:50Scotland's inability to stand out or compete in this global context
0:31:50 > 0:31:53means they remain locked out of the levels of money
0:31:53 > 0:31:55that would help them compete.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59It's a cycle - the longer they are excluded,
0:31:59 > 0:32:01the harder it is to get back in.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04Whenever people say it's not about money, it is.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07Whether it's facilities or equipment or tours,
0:32:07 > 0:32:10or whatever it may be, investment is key.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14Sky are paying ?10.2 million per game
0:32:14 > 0:32:16for English Premier games.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18The rights fee they will pay Scottish football
0:32:18 > 0:32:20is the equivalent of two English Premier games.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22Promotion to the Premier League
0:32:22 > 0:32:26can be worth ?100-200 million to a club.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30I left Hearts in 1997,
0:32:30 > 0:32:32and, at that time,
0:32:32 > 0:32:35the top salary at the club was round about ?1,000 per week...
0:32:35 > 0:32:38And...when I returned in 2000...
0:32:38 > 0:32:42we had four players earning ?10,000 per week.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44It wasn't just Hearts.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46It was symptomatic of everything that was going on
0:32:46 > 0:32:48in Scottish football at the time.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50Dundee Utd, Aberdeen,
0:32:50 > 0:32:53Dunfermline, Livingston,
0:32:53 > 0:32:54Kilmarnock....
0:32:54 > 0:32:58They were all spending way, way beyond their means.
0:33:04 > 0:33:10There's a direct correlation between finance and success.
0:33:10 > 0:33:12You look at, for example,
0:33:12 > 0:33:16at the top of the pile in Scotland just now, Celtic...
0:33:16 > 0:33:19Their current budget would be probably
0:33:19 > 0:33:22a mid-table Championship budget in England.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27The differences in funding
0:33:27 > 0:33:30between football in Scotland and England
0:33:30 > 0:33:31have never been more stark.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39Financially we cannot compete no longer
0:33:39 > 0:33:40with some of the big leagues,
0:33:40 > 0:33:44so we have to produce the best young players we possibly can,
0:33:44 > 0:33:47and, at this moment in time,
0:33:47 > 0:33:48it doesn't appear we're doing so,
0:33:48 > 0:33:50so something needs to change.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03Is Scotland comparing itself to the wrong country?
0:34:04 > 0:34:08Would Scotland do better comparing itself to one of a similar size?
0:34:10 > 0:34:14The club system is at the heart of the whole game,
0:34:14 > 0:34:17but the current set-up dates from a different era.
0:34:18 > 0:34:25We have 42 clubs in our leagues for a population of five million.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27By any standard, that's too many.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32Two Inverness teams - Caledonian and Inverness Thistle -
0:34:32 > 0:34:37had been trying to gain entry to the Scottish leagues since the 1970s.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41In 1994, it was made clear that, if the clubs merged,
0:34:41 > 0:34:44they would stand a much better chance of being admitted.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48But many feared that this meant the loss of both clubs
0:34:48 > 0:34:49and their traditions.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52We knew we could progress if given the opportunity.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57We made a decision at Caledonian FC, where I was playing at the time,
0:34:57 > 0:35:01to involve the players, because the players wanted to do it.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04We went along to meetings, got involved in the voting process,
0:35:04 > 0:35:07which wasn't good. It got really nasty.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09You know, the authorities, the police were involved
0:35:09 > 0:35:10at a couple of the meetings.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13I remember one of the players getting called Judas
0:35:13 > 0:35:15as he walked in. He was a wee bit late for the meeting.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17Our own fans at the time at Caley,
0:35:17 > 0:35:19who were die-hard Caledonian fans in the Highland League,
0:35:19 > 0:35:21were dead against the process.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23Their argument was that they felt Caledonian
0:35:23 > 0:35:25should have gone it alone.
0:35:25 > 0:35:26I'm not interested in Inverness Thistle.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29Caley Football Club are the biggest club in the north of Scotland.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31It's a disgrace we've not been in the Scottish leagues before, eh?
0:35:31 > 0:35:35Yes votes - apply for membership and merge with Thistle Football Club
0:35:35 > 0:35:37is 55...
0:35:37 > 0:35:38the No vote is 50.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42Caley were a bigger club at the time with a bigger support
0:35:42 > 0:35:43and a better infrastructure,
0:35:43 > 0:35:47so they felt they should have gone alone.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51REPORTER: Many younger supporters left the meeting in disgust.
0:35:51 > 0:35:53One tore up his season ticket.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56Paid for a vote. They sold me down the river.
0:35:58 > 0:35:59Hundred years down the tubes.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02Hundred years gone. For what?
0:36:02 > 0:36:04Well, I'm not going to go and watch Caley again.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07It was Caley's older members who had voted for change.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10Inverness will have a good football team.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12Maybe I'll not see it, but maybe my grandsons,
0:36:12 > 0:36:14my grandchildren will see it.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16We did see the football sense in it,
0:36:16 > 0:36:18that there would be a stronger club to go forward
0:36:18 > 0:36:20and hopefully develop through the leagues.
0:36:20 > 0:36:25First out the hat came Caledonian...Inverness Thistle.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27Second out of the hat
0:36:27 > 0:36:29was Ross County.
0:36:29 > 0:36:31New club Inverness Caledonian Thistle did make their way
0:36:31 > 0:36:34through the leagues, and, when they were in the First Division,
0:36:34 > 0:36:36they became famous after a remarkable result
0:36:36 > 0:36:38in the Scottish Cup against Celtic.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46Inverness Caley Thistle have made history!
0:36:46 > 0:36:49The biggest upset in Scottish Football for 33 years.
0:36:51 > 0:36:53CHARLIE CHRISTIE: '..which I still feel to this day
0:36:53 > 0:36:54'is as significant an evening
0:36:54 > 0:36:56'for the club as any other in our history,
0:36:56 > 0:36:59'and that firmly put our name on the football map.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05'The press coverage that we got in the aftermath of that game...
0:37:05 > 0:37:08'I think everyone realised then that the potential was there
0:37:08 > 0:37:10and that this club were going places.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14The gamble paid off.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16Inverness Caledonian Thistle made the journey
0:37:16 > 0:37:18from the Highland League to the SPL,
0:37:18 > 0:37:21and their story didn't end there.
0:37:25 > 0:37:30And James Vincent might have won the cup for Caley Thistle!
0:37:37 > 0:37:4021 years after getting into the Scottish League set-up,
0:37:40 > 0:37:42they won the Scottish Cup.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48Inverness's success is an argument in favour of mergers...
0:37:48 > 0:37:51given the right circumstances.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00Keep your predator hands off Hibernian Football Club.
0:38:00 > 0:38:01CHEERING
0:38:01 > 0:38:04Mergers don't work for every club.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07In 1990, a proposed Hearts/Hibs merger
0:38:07 > 0:38:10was always seen more as a takeover,
0:38:10 > 0:38:12while the Dundee and Dundee Utd one
0:38:12 > 0:38:15was called off at the last minute.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18There are so many factors involved -
0:38:18 > 0:38:20the size of the fanbases,
0:38:20 > 0:38:22historic relationship between the clubs,
0:38:22 > 0:38:24location,
0:38:24 > 0:38:26and the risks versus the potential rewards.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32It makes total sense for the Angus clubs, for example.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34You know, I look at the clubs... I've played there...
0:38:34 > 0:38:36I've been to these clubs.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38No disrespect, but they must find it really difficult
0:38:38 > 0:38:40to make ends meet and to survive.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42The Arbroaths, the Brechins, the Forfars...
0:38:42 > 0:38:44There's so many clubs in the same area.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47And they produce good players and always have done.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49But to progress through the leagues...
0:38:49 > 0:38:52I don't think any of these clubs in my time in the last two decades
0:38:52 > 0:38:54have been full-time clubs.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56You imagine the strength they might have if they did merge.
0:38:56 > 0:39:0020 teams could have taken the game forward with common standards,
0:39:00 > 0:39:02common ideas and a way to address
0:39:02 > 0:39:05the fundamental issues that the game faced.
0:39:05 > 0:39:07I think the fanbase of these clubs would grow.
0:39:07 > 0:39:08You'd lose some, without a doubt.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11There would be the die-hards who wouldn't be interested -
0:39:11 > 0:39:13same as we lost some fans at Inverness, disappointingly -
0:39:13 > 0:39:16but I'm quite sure you'd replace them with new fans.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20Fans might not want to be involved in every aspect of their clubs,
0:39:20 > 0:39:23but they definitely want to have their say.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27In the late 1980s, fans became increasingly frustrated
0:39:27 > 0:39:30with how the mainstream media was covering the game
0:39:30 > 0:39:32and not representing their views.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36Supporters decided to produce an alternative story,
0:39:36 > 0:39:39and so the Scottish football fanzine was born.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43Well, the fanzines at the time... Things like The Absolute Game,
0:39:43 > 0:39:45Not The View, The Final Hurdle at Tannadice...
0:39:45 > 0:39:48What they did was they democratised football.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51They gave the ordinary football fan a voice.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54Previously, if a football fan wanted to have a say,
0:39:54 > 0:39:56he could maybe write into the local newspaper
0:39:56 > 0:39:58or something like that, you know?
0:39:58 > 0:40:00We loved those fanzines. We loved writing them,
0:40:00 > 0:40:02we loved reading each other's fanzines,
0:40:02 > 0:40:05because we were seeing the way fans really viewed the game
0:40:05 > 0:40:06and how they talked about it,
0:40:06 > 0:40:09but, most importantly, how they joked about it.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12It was a chance to sit down and write fairly lengthy articles
0:40:12 > 0:40:15in a fanzine which addressed a lot of things which
0:40:15 > 0:40:17mainstream media were perhaps not addressing, so it...
0:40:17 > 0:40:21It was the first starting of breaking that almost sacred mould
0:40:21 > 0:40:25between the mainstream media guys, the journalists, and the clubs.
0:40:25 > 0:40:27There was a crack in the door there
0:40:27 > 0:40:30and the fanzine movement pushed that door ajar.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34Obviously, you require a lot of self-deprecatory humour
0:40:34 > 0:40:37if you're the supporter of an unsuccessful team
0:40:37 > 0:40:40and a frequently unsuccessful country...
0:40:40 > 0:40:41in football terms.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44It broke down the barriers between clubs and fans.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46It was no longer the case of...
0:40:46 > 0:40:47"Turn up, pay your money and shut up.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49"We'll tell you what's good for you."
0:40:49 > 0:40:52You finally had the fans saying, "You know what? We've got a say."
0:40:52 > 0:40:56I mean, the Final Hurdle regularly outsold the official programme.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59Football coverage was always really po-faced.
0:40:59 > 0:41:01If something untoward happened,
0:41:01 > 0:41:04we'd always talk about 'bringing the game into disrepute'.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07You know, if there's some big bust-up,
0:41:07 > 0:41:10we've got to talk about it in the most sombre terms in the media,
0:41:10 > 0:41:11as if it was some national disgrace,
0:41:11 > 0:41:15whereas the fans love it, and they love making jokes about it.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17You're tuned to Off The Ball,
0:41:17 > 0:41:20the most petty and ill-informed sports programme on radio.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23Another product of the fanzine movement
0:41:23 > 0:41:25was BBC Radio Scotland's Off The Ball -
0:41:25 > 0:41:27an iconic programme dealing with football,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30politics and popular culture.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32Refs versus the fans,
0:41:32 > 0:41:34Periscope - how I saw the game,
0:41:34 > 0:41:36and what does Dundee Utd mean to you?
0:41:36 > 0:41:40I'm Stuart Cosgrove, he's Tam Cowan...
0:41:41 > 0:41:42'Our slogan is
0:41:42 > 0:41:44"the most petty and ill-informed sports programme on radio",
0:41:44 > 0:41:47and we did that almost as a kind of antidote
0:41:47 > 0:41:50to something that you see all the time in the media,
0:41:50 > 0:41:53which is journalists claiming that they're informed.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57How many times have you heard people turning round and saying,
0:41:57 > 0:41:59"My sources tell me that..."
0:41:59 > 0:42:02"Don't worry - he'll be the manager by tomorrow.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06"I can assure you. I have close sources at the club."
0:42:06 > 0:42:08And they try to convey to the reader
0:42:08 > 0:42:10that they're more informed than anybody.
0:42:10 > 0:42:12We wanted to go in a different direction and say,
0:42:12 > 0:42:15"We don't know anything. We're ill-informed.
0:42:15 > 0:42:16"We actually get everything wrong.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19"We're football fans and therefore we are hypocrites.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21"We see wrong in every other club in Scotland
0:42:21 > 0:42:23"and only our club is right."
0:42:23 > 0:42:25So football fans are hypocrites.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28The show reflects that hypocrisy.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32We've always tried to have the spirit of the show as such that
0:42:32 > 0:42:36it would hopefully sound like guys in the pub, talking about fitbaw.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39He held his phone up behind the goals
0:42:39 > 0:42:41to film it on his phone...
0:42:41 > 0:42:42And this wasnae some old crackly image. No, no.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45It didnae look awful. No, it was a very decent image.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48And 25,000 Rangers fans tuned into it.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51The innovation this time was not that it was being recorded,
0:42:51 > 0:42:53but that it was being live streamed.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56No, the guy said that his arm was ag... I mean, what an effort.
0:42:56 > 0:42:58I've noticed in the last few years -
0:42:58 > 0:43:00I mean, certainly in the period of time
0:43:00 > 0:43:01that we've been doing Off The Ball -
0:43:01 > 0:43:03that supporting some of the smaller teams
0:43:03 > 0:43:05has been almost a kind of counter culture
0:43:05 > 0:43:07in Scottish football.
0:43:07 > 0:43:13We get tremendous support from the fans of the kind of 'other' teams,
0:43:13 > 0:43:14as it were.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17And often when the show is at its most popular
0:43:17 > 0:43:21is when it's having digs at the hypocrisies and delusions
0:43:21 > 0:43:22of the bigger teams.
0:43:22 > 0:43:24I like the Periscope innovation,
0:43:24 > 0:43:27and it allows people who are not at the game to see it,
0:43:27 > 0:43:29but I'm still a great believer that,
0:43:29 > 0:43:31if you're a football fan and you can reach the game
0:43:31 > 0:43:33and you've got the money and you can get there,
0:43:33 > 0:43:35go to the game. It's always better.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39The arrival of social media gave fans even more ways
0:43:39 > 0:43:41to have their voices heard,
0:43:41 > 0:43:46changing forever the way the game is reported, consumed and shared.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50One of the biggest differences between the fanzine movement was...
0:43:50 > 0:43:52You know, it took a bit of time to sit down, type the fanzine out,
0:43:52 > 0:43:54get it off to the printers and all the rest of it...
0:43:54 > 0:43:57Then it would hit the streets a week after it was printed.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59I mean, nowadays, and even into the message board days,
0:43:59 > 0:44:01everything was then instantaneous, you know?
0:44:01 > 0:44:05The media's no longer the "inside track"
0:44:05 > 0:44:06which it once would claim to be
0:44:06 > 0:44:09so if I wanted to know what was happening,
0:44:09 > 0:44:11I needed to read a particular journalist
0:44:11 > 0:44:14or hear a particular broadcaster
0:44:14 > 0:44:16who I know had good access.
0:44:16 > 0:44:20Those days don't exist, those days are gone now so the media
0:44:20 > 0:44:22has become more complicated and more layered.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27Everything is so immediate, you know.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30Whereas before you used to have to wait for your morning paper
0:44:30 > 0:44:37to find out what happened, now all of the information is there,
0:44:37 > 0:44:40almost sometimes before the players have left the field.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45It's kind of like supping with the devil, isn't it?
0:44:45 > 0:44:47You need a long spoon. It's...
0:44:47 > 0:44:50Areas that were once the haunt of the madman
0:44:50 > 0:44:55and the highly articulate and sometimes they both converge.
0:44:55 > 0:44:57Somebody described, for example, social media,
0:44:57 > 0:45:01Twitter to me as a bit like entering a pub at times
0:45:01 > 0:45:04when everybody's on their ninth pint, you know,
0:45:04 > 0:45:05and everybody's got an opinion
0:45:05 > 0:45:07and so we have this kind of age of a rush to judgment.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10It's a way that football supporters interact with clubs,
0:45:10 > 0:45:13they interact with players, they interact with management
0:45:13 > 0:45:16and it kind of roots us closer to them as well
0:45:16 > 0:45:18so I'm a strong advocate of it.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21If it's used correctly and it's used in a productive way,
0:45:21 > 0:45:22I think it's a good thing.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25You could put boards of directors in football clubs
0:45:25 > 0:45:27under much more pressure with arguments
0:45:27 > 0:45:29than even you could in the fanzine days,
0:45:29 > 0:45:33so there was great change going on and there was a radical element.
0:45:33 > 0:45:35I mean, we've seen it with Foundation of Hearts,
0:45:35 > 0:45:37we've seen it with some of the Rangers fan groups
0:45:37 > 0:45:40and you see it at clubs, usually when clubs are in trouble.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44Social media allows fans to have their say,
0:45:44 > 0:45:47but fans still often feel that their voices are either drowned out
0:45:47 > 0:45:51or ignored by clubs and the authorities.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54There is no question that people feel that there is
0:45:54 > 0:45:58a disconnect between the structures and the ownership structures
0:45:58 > 0:46:01of football and the fans that go to games.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06If you looked at a club like Celtic, Celtic are managed as a PLC.
0:46:06 > 0:46:10They are under a legal requirement to make announcements
0:46:10 > 0:46:13to the City of London before they even tell their own fans
0:46:13 > 0:46:14what it is they're doing,
0:46:14 > 0:46:17so there clearly is there a commercial disconnect.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22Hearts, Hibs, St Mirren and Motherwell are all attempting
0:46:22 > 0:46:27to address this by exploring different models of fan ownership.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30I think we have to get a real understanding of what we mean
0:46:30 > 0:46:34by supporters' ownership for the people who are advocating it,
0:46:34 > 0:46:37so I don't think it's going to be easy.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41I certainly don't think there is one right answer for all clubs.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44Personally, I don't think we should have wall-to-wall supporter groups
0:46:44 > 0:46:48all wanting a say in running the football club.
0:46:48 > 0:46:49I think it has to be channelled,
0:46:49 > 0:46:53individual supporters have got to identify who do they trust
0:46:53 > 0:46:55to look after their interests
0:46:55 > 0:46:57and they're the people that have to work with the club.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00There's a bit of education got to go on
0:47:00 > 0:47:04about exactly what we mean by supporters' ownership.
0:47:04 > 0:47:05At this moment in time,
0:47:05 > 0:47:08we are going towards the position where supporters can take
0:47:08 > 0:47:11a majority ownership of the shares of the football club.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13We're actively and have actively been promoting that.
0:47:13 > 0:47:17These are additional elements that football supporters are doing
0:47:17 > 0:47:19above and beyond the norm, above and beyond season tickets
0:47:19 > 0:47:20and they're doing it
0:47:20 > 0:47:23because they don't want to stand outside and demonstrate.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28I think it's a win-win situation for us as a club.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35These experiments are still at an early stage in Scotland,
0:47:35 > 0:47:38but there are successful examples in Europe.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40In the German Bundesliga,
0:47:40 > 0:47:45members and fans must own at least 51% of the shares in their clubs.
0:47:45 > 0:47:47It's a model that seems to work.
0:47:47 > 0:47:51Bundesliga teams have won three Champions League titles
0:47:51 > 0:47:54in the last ten years and the German international team
0:47:54 > 0:47:56won the World Cup in 2014.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58Working it in... Chance for Gotze!
0:47:58 > 0:48:01Mario Gotze has scored for Germany!
0:48:05 > 0:48:08The fans are essential to the game,
0:48:08 > 0:48:12but the fans themselves have changed.
0:48:12 > 0:48:16Once almost uniformly male and flat-capped, the terraces offered
0:48:16 > 0:48:19one of the few forms of escapism from hard industrial labour.
0:48:19 > 0:48:24The clubs now have to find new ways to entice fans into their grounds,
0:48:24 > 0:48:28especially considering the high ticket prices.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30In an age of on-demand entertainment
0:48:30 > 0:48:33and endless competition for our disposable income,
0:48:33 > 0:48:37fans want more than just a game when they walk through the gates.
0:48:38 > 0:48:40In the late 19th to early 20th century,
0:48:40 > 0:48:43there were very few alternatives to recreation.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46Now there are and recreation is no longer the monopoly of one sex
0:48:46 > 0:48:49as it was for those people who went to football matches
0:48:49 > 0:48:55in the 1890s and down to the period after the Second World War
0:48:55 > 0:48:58so there's huge competition for people.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02Don't forget, we're talking about a society
0:49:02 > 0:49:07where eating out was rare as recently as the 1970s.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13The game could work much harder to broaden its appeal,
0:49:13 > 0:49:16opening it up to a wider audience.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19I think it's massively important to a football club
0:49:19 > 0:49:22that you encourage families, because they are your lifeline.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25Without fans, we don't have a football club.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28It's as simple as that. You've got to encourage them to come in.
0:49:28 > 0:49:32You've got to encourage the mums and the dads to bring the kids
0:49:32 > 0:49:34because they're our fans of the future.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39However, it all comes down to money and that's the problem
0:49:39 > 0:49:43and there's just not enough money in the game any more in Scotland.
0:49:43 > 0:49:44I personally feel it's on the decline at the moment.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47Clubs are watching their pennies.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50They have to be very careful about how they spend their money.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52A lot of the things that clubs could be doing
0:49:52 > 0:49:54for the fans' experience does cost money.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58I personally think that a lot more could be done
0:49:58 > 0:50:00to improve fans' experience.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02You only have to go over to the States
0:50:02 > 0:50:05to see how amazing the fans' experience is.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08Fans come for the excitement of live football.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13What they often experience, though, are crowds, but here,
0:50:13 > 0:50:16technology helps fans handle those hassles
0:50:16 > 0:50:20at one of the most wired arenas in the US.
0:50:20 > 0:50:21BEEPING
0:50:21 > 0:50:26Getting into the game is easier. Food can be ordered online.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28WiFi hotspots keep everyone connected
0:50:28 > 0:50:33and give information on the quickest way to seats or to exit the stadium.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36These initiatives make the club money
0:50:36 > 0:50:39and the fan experience more enjoyable.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45That particular expression of "But this is football,
0:50:45 > 0:50:48"it's different" or, "But that's how it's done in football,"
0:50:48 > 0:50:51it's used too often without thinking.
0:50:51 > 0:50:53It's used too often without saying,
0:50:53 > 0:50:55"Hang on a wee minute,
0:50:55 > 0:50:58"maybe that's the way it's normally done in football,
0:50:58 > 0:51:01"or maybe that's the way it's always been done here,
0:51:01 > 0:51:04"but can we just stand back a wee minute and say, is it right?"
0:51:04 > 0:51:09And, again, to me, it just comes back to this questioning.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13You know, let's not just drift along, doing things the same-old,
0:51:13 > 0:51:16same-old way, but say, "Hang on a minute,
0:51:16 > 0:51:20"the world is moving on, so many things are changing round about us.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24"How on earth are we actually going to cope with some of these changes
0:51:24 > 0:51:27"and, by the way, could we use some of these changes
0:51:27 > 0:51:33"to make our jobs either easier or improve things or whatever?"
0:51:35 > 0:51:39Ann Budge, chief executive of Heart of Midlothian Football Club,
0:51:39 > 0:51:43has a reputation for asking the right questions.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48She's brought integrity back to Hearts, I think she's brought
0:51:48 > 0:51:51a real sense of ownership. She's a strong leader, she's a strong woman.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54She'll buck convention. Just because it's always happened, doesn't mean
0:51:54 > 0:51:57it has to happen that way again, let's look at something different.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00You need people like Ann Budge on the committees,
0:52:00 > 0:52:03asking the questions - "Can we change it, why not?"
0:52:05 > 0:52:09New perspectives and voices are emerging in some places.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11Perhaps evidence that the old system
0:52:11 > 0:52:13is beginning to adapt to the 21st century?
0:52:13 > 0:52:16Go! Let's go, come on!
0:52:16 > 0:52:2030 years ago, a female coach of a team playing in the Scottish
0:52:20 > 0:52:22lower leagues would have been unthinkable.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26Win the battles, first and second balls, that'll be important for us.
0:52:26 > 0:52:31In 2013, Shelley Kerr was appointed the first female coach
0:52:31 > 0:52:36of Lowland League side Stirling University.
0:52:36 > 0:52:41It was the following day, I was in to meet the players at 7:30am.
0:52:41 > 0:52:45And then, by five o'clock that evening,
0:52:45 > 0:52:51it was just incredible - the TV, radio, newspapers -
0:52:51 > 0:52:54it was just crazy.
0:52:54 > 0:52:55It was a distraction, I have to say.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59And I tried to, as best as possible,
0:52:59 > 0:53:02keep that distraction away from the players.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05Because all I wanted to do was try and get off to a good start.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08Provide that little bit of balance on the edge of the box
0:53:08 > 0:53:10for anything coming back out, OK?
0:53:10 > 0:53:12'I have to say the players were magnificent
0:53:12 > 0:53:14'in terms of their reaction.'
0:53:14 > 0:53:16Get it out! Good timing!
0:53:16 > 0:53:20'There was an instant respect of my knowledge of football.'
0:53:20 > 0:53:22Keep the tempo high when you're playing the ball.
0:53:22 > 0:53:24It wasn't a problem at all, they were great.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28Now we go! Early, early!
0:53:28 > 0:53:31Unfortunately, I'm the only female right now that's working in the
0:53:31 > 0:53:35men's game, especially in Scotland.
0:53:35 > 0:53:40We need more females, but only if they're interested in doing that.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43I've got ambitions of working within a professional environment.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46If you're asking me will it happen, I think
0:53:46 > 0:53:50we're a wee bit away from that appointment happening right now.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53Go on, Lewis! Good, Callum!
0:53:53 > 0:53:56You're competing with so many good coaches - it's not just
0:53:56 > 0:54:00a gender issue here, it's about the competition you're facing.
0:54:00 > 0:54:03I think I'm qualified, I think I've got the attributes,
0:54:03 > 0:54:07but I think it would be still deemed as being a risk
0:54:07 > 0:54:12by some club owners and chief executives of clubs.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16And that's down to probably the pressure from supporters.
0:54:16 > 0:54:17I've got the skill set,
0:54:17 > 0:54:19but I still think it would maybe be seen as a risk.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23Well done. Stuart, all the best. All the best.
0:54:28 > 0:54:32It is, if not the, but one of the biggest games in this country.
0:54:32 > 0:54:36It's something that runs throughout most families.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39It's in our DNA, it's in our culture, it's in our blood.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42And it's something that's not in a great place at this moment.
0:54:42 > 0:54:43It's sad to see that.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46I want to see football - men's, women's, boys', girls' - whatever,
0:54:46 > 0:54:48I want to see football doing well.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52So to be part of the women's renaissance, if you want,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55this growth is fantastic.
0:54:55 > 0:54:57But if we can do it together with the guys,
0:54:57 > 0:55:00I think that would be fantastic for Scotland.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09The future of football in global terms is not in doubt.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12Big money, huge media profile,
0:55:12 > 0:55:15ever-increasing transfer fees and wages.
0:55:15 > 0:55:18Relentless media coverage and worldwide fame and recognition
0:55:18 > 0:55:20for the big stars of the game.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25However, in Scotland -
0:55:25 > 0:55:28a country which not so long ago competed on level terms with
0:55:28 > 0:55:31so many of the countries now boasting the big, glamour leagues -
0:55:31 > 0:55:34the future is a lot less certain.
0:55:36 > 0:55:41You look at our teams' performances in Europe, the Celtics of
0:55:41 > 0:55:44this world, our teams are going out at the qualifying stages.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48And when these teams go out, we have a postmortem of a month where we
0:55:48 > 0:55:53talk about, we're playing, we're not starting the league early enough,
0:55:53 > 0:55:56we have to bring the start date forward so our players are ready.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59Nonsense, it's nothing to do with that.
0:55:59 > 0:56:01It's that we're not producing good enough players,
0:56:01 > 0:56:02and our league's not good enough.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04And until we actually face up to that
0:56:04 > 0:56:07and actually start doing something about it,
0:56:07 > 0:56:10we're going to continue to have that same conversation every
0:56:10 > 0:56:12August/September of every year.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16In a country of five million people,
0:56:16 > 0:56:19is our current system really working?
0:56:19 > 0:56:23Countries of similar size, like Ireland, Denmark and Norway,
0:56:23 > 0:56:25have relatively low-profile leagues,
0:56:25 > 0:56:28but do produce players that play in the big ones.
0:56:29 > 0:56:31Jock Stein said, 50 years ago,
0:56:31 > 0:56:34that football is nothing without the fans.
0:56:34 > 0:56:36But with crowds in decline at many clubs,
0:56:36 > 0:56:40is the current structure the best that it could be?
0:56:40 > 0:56:45Something that's so important to such a big part of the population
0:56:45 > 0:56:49has got to be taken seriously and taken notice of.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52A fairer distribution of the money that's in football
0:56:52 > 0:56:56could be good for the game overall.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59Not just a matter of, I want to get a wee bit more,
0:56:59 > 0:57:01or you should get a wee bit less, that's not the point to me.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05It's the right distribution to enable the growth of the game
0:57:05 > 0:57:07and to enable more clubs to compete
0:57:07 > 0:57:10and, actually, in some cases, survive.
0:57:10 > 0:57:13There is nothing better than a sold-out sign
0:57:13 > 0:57:15to make people want to come in.
0:57:15 > 0:57:16Let's get the game right here,
0:57:16 > 0:57:18let's get people in through the gates
0:57:18 > 0:57:21and let's generate an atmosphere and get some good football played.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24And the rest will take care of itself.
0:57:24 > 0:57:29The way forward may be painful, but it can also be enjoyable,
0:57:29 > 0:57:33reshaping and reforming the game in a way that suits our country,
0:57:33 > 0:57:37our ambitions, and our aspirations.
0:57:37 > 0:57:38Sometimes we're scared of change.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42We think, what's the point, why change?
0:57:42 > 0:57:45Whereas it should be the exact opposite - we need to change.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47We need to do things differently.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50But people don't like change in general.
0:57:50 > 0:57:52It takes them outside their comfort zone.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55People don't like being outside their comfort zone, generally.
0:57:57 > 0:58:01It's time to step back and reflect on the last 30 years.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04Will Scottish football hit the tipping point
0:58:04 > 0:58:07and have no other choice but to embrace radical change?
0:58:08 > 0:58:12How long will clubs be driven by self-interest
0:58:12 > 0:58:15at the expense of the overall good of the game?
0:58:15 > 0:58:18The future of our football is up for grabs.
0:58:18 > 0:58:21Maybe, just maybe, in the years ahead,
0:58:21 > 0:58:24it will once again be a successful,
0:58:24 > 0:58:28compelling spectacle that all of Scotland can be proud of.
0:59:03 > 0:59:06THEME PLAYS: The Apprentice