WHEN Henry McLeish issued his midweek call for a national conversation on the future of football in this country, his appeal for assistance to prepare his Scottish Football Review was passionate and genuine. No-one doubts that the former East Fife player has an abiding love for our national sport, and as a former politician and lecturer he undoubtedly has the intellectual capacity to produce a cogent case for reform.
The problem is that, even if he does publish something remarkable and revolutionary, there is no commitment to act on it. "There's no guarantee," he said. "I am not going to produce a report which is going to be anodyne, or duck the issues. The footb
all authorities will have both recommendations and the ways to implement them. I am confident that change is going to happen, but I am not in a position to guarantee the outcomes."
McLeish did add: "(The review] is going to be sharp focused, I hope it's going to be innovative, and then it's over to the authorities to see where they take it."
In the three-phase review he will look at the grassroots and development of youth before tackling the way professional football is run.
He pledged in particular to tackle local government, the biggest providers of football facilities in this country, over the cost of often awful pitches and changing rooms – "let's start today" were his exact words. "There is no doubt in my mind that local and central government have to be at the heart of the way forward."
The cynics are already saying McLeish's review is at worst a two-year jolly for him to visit other countries at the SFA's expense, or at best a talking shop which will produce nothing substantial.
The former first minister acknowledges those views: "I have been in politics long enough to have visited cynicism in a big, big way, but I am not cynical. I am actually rather optimistic. When a review is set up, whether it be about football or anything else, there are always people who will think: 'what is the real agenda here'.
"The real agenda is that the authorities have had the courage to say we need a review, and secondly they have asked me to be an independent chair.
"The only way to deal with scepticism and cynicism is to get a report which allows the authorities to move quickly."
Actions always speak louder than words, and for the sake of our footballing future, hopefully McLeish can tackle serious issues like the leading politician he once was and force national and local government and the footballing authorities to act.
The proof will be in the pudding.
The full article contains 468 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
