The Scotland National Set-Up is embarking on a new era, with top-to-bottom changes in the governing body, the dug-out and on the pitch.
As part of this, our U19 side now has a new man at the helm – former Kelty Hearts and Dundee United gaffer Tam Courts. Assisting him will be ex-Rangers captain Lee Wallace, who will also balance this role alongside his hybrid academy and first team coaching post at Heart of Midlothian.
After a spell coaching in the Middle East, Courts discussed his eagerness to have returned to his homeland in an exciting new role.
“I was enjoying the experience professionally – and also the lifestyle – at Al Qadsiah, but when your home association comes calling I just felt something inside of me. I felt it was the right opportunity to pursue.”
“I feel excited about Craig (Mulholland)’s vision. We are at a really interesting moment for Scottish football; there’s a lot of dialogue about young player development now and I really want to be involved in a leading role.”
Courts is part of a huge coaching shakeup for our National Team Youth Set-Up, and although he will be taking on a leading role in our Under-19s side, all coaches across all ages will be known as ‘National Youth Team Coaches’. This provides fluidity for staff to transition between our youth sides, travelling to camps and assisting training between the U15 and U19 to make the jump between age groups much more seamless for our young players.
The 45-year-old gave us his thoughts on the new approach;
“It’s been clear to me that us National Youth Team Coaches will have to be open to changing age groups and be involved with the talent pathway all the way through. Just last week I was down in Largs for two days supporting the U15 training camp.”
He continued;
“I think the direction of travel that we are going in is that the U21 and at Men’s Squad will mirror each other, but there are principles and ideas that the other youth teas will align on.”
“This will make it easier for our players to transition through the pathway.”
A phrase that has continued to crop up since the SFA’s Chief Football Officer Craig Mulholland’s appointment is ‘Scottish DNA’. He, alongside new Men’s Squad manager Sebastien Pocognoli have exclaimed their desire for a ‘Scottish DNA’ to run through their teams from youth level to A-Team.
Many fans will be scratching their head as to what this DNA looks like and what to expect on the pitch. Courts provided his version of what he believes we are going to see from our new-look Scotland sides.
“Naturally you look at our passion and intensity, but as a nation we have the capability to do so much more.”
“We have had a top group of players for the last generation, and we see some emerging talents coming through now as well. For us coaches, if you want to be a team that has credibility at the top stage we need to have more dominance and control of the ball.”
“We need to develop more players that are technically capable of playing in smaller spaces, whilst also creating and scoring at the highest level of the game.”
“Spaces are at a premium, chances are at a premium. We have to recognise that this is the way the game is going and develop players that can execute in those situations.”
After departing Tannadice in 2022, the Kirkcaldy man has taken an interesting path in his coaching journey. He first travelled to OTP Bank Liga side Budapest Honvéd where he took on a management role, and then jetted off to Saudi Arabia to work under Brendan Rodgers at Al Qadsiah.
Whilst on his ventures he kept a watchful eye over the state of play here in Scotland. Highlighting what he has noticed during his time away, he said;
“The overall under-21 minutes in the Premiership currently sits around 2%. We have many different challenges in our game right now – one obviously being those players getting minutes in first teams.”
“This is a challenge for all of the National Youth Team Coaches, not just independently.”
“On the flip side, one real positive from the outside looking in is the co-operation loan agreement. For example, I was at the Dunfermline match at the weekend and seen Dylan Lobban and Sam Cleal-Harding playing – who have now been called up to the Under-21s.”
“It’s clear to me that the investment that we’ve made from a strategic perspective to initiate the co-op agreement shows that there is something positive happening.”
The Under-19s squad has listed seven players who are all experiencing first-team minutes thanks to a co-op loan deal, including Rangers’ Aidan McCallion, Celtic’s Liam Kennedy and Kilmarnock’s Archie Traynor. Courts says he is “pleased” with the quality of his age group, who play for a variety of Clubs across Scotland and England.
The first camp for this new group started on Sunday, which Courts expects to be “an interesting experience” before they meet up again in November ahead of the U19 EURO Qualifiers against Belgium, Kazakhstan and Kosovo.
First on the agenda for the Courts and Wallace’s Young Scots is a friendly this Thursday against Finland in Alicante, Spain.
