I USED to be heavily involved in basketball, back in the day when, egged-on by the example of David Murray and his MIM (Murray International Metals) team, all the other Scottish basketball clubs began to import Americans. (To be fair to Sir David and the guys at MIM, it was the Paisley club which first imported Americans, only MIM did it better).
The club with which I was involved bought-in several Yanks. Some were great, others did a job, two or three were wastes of space and money. I remember having a conversation with the last guy we brought in. He had spent several years in Europe and, probably, coming to us, for whom he did very well, was confirmation of how his stock had fallen. He openly admitted, when he went home to the USA at the end of the season, he was going to have to sit down and consider his future.
"I made it to the pros, maybe not the NBA, but, I've played all over Europe for the past decade and more, but, it is maybe time to put down roots and get onto the corporate ladder", he said.
"Trouble is, the guys with whom I played in college, but, who didn't make the pros, have got a ten-year start on me. So, I've got ground to make up, if I do decide to retire and get a real job".
That guy, in his early 30s, with no prior business experience, at least had one thing going for him that his football equivalent - a guy whose full-time contract with a club was not being renewed and who had decided to either quit or go part-time - rarely has. My American friend had come through the US collegiate system. He had qualifications which would make him employable.
Just think how many Scottish footballers, who had been lucky enough to get a trainee contract as a 16-year-old school leaver, who had then been able to turn this into a full-time playing contract and who had been full-time for over a decade, have then been released and cast into a jobs market which is, shrinking, and for which they have had no preparation or experience. To be fair, most survive - but, some don't.
Last week there was a lot of interest in the notion that Scottish football's Academy system wasn't working. This interest mainly concerned the paucity of our players' technical ability. Little attention was paid to the massive number of under-performers we have turned-out in Scotland.
I remember reading once, that Arsenal, a club with a good track record when it came to home-grown talent, reckoned for every full team of 16-year-olds they recruited each year, they would be lucky if they got one through to be a first team member.
With that sort of return, from a big, well-funded youth development programme, is it any surprise that less-well-funded programmes, from lesser clubs, too-often fail to produce players?
We really need to have a more-holistic attitude to young player development. The days are past when we can simply feed young men into a sausage machine, hoping to turn-out quality players, but, unconcerned about the fate of those who don't make it. These kids, mostly, give it their best shot, so, we have a duty of care to those who don't make it, by giving them a grounding, an education and qualifications which will help them when it is time to hang-up their boots.
Just this past weekend, the SRU unveiled its four regional rugby academies, designed to produce more, better-prepared new talent for our two fully-professional rugby teams. One of the things the SRU was keen to stress is, these young men would also be encouraged to undertake higher education courses, in addition to their rugby work.
This isn't quite the American collegiate system, but, it heading that way and, while I can see some if not imperfections, then areas which could be done better, is already way ahead of anything we have seen from Scotland's full-time football teams.
OK, our young players are not as good technically as European kids - that issue has to be addressed. The SRU has accepted the same problem with our young rugby players: they don't react as well to pressure as others - but, they are counting on the academies to help alleviate this failure.
They are also working hard at making their young players better, more-rounded humans. I see little evidence of our football clubs being as concerned about the kids in their system. This is not good enough.
MAYBE not this season, but, certainly next, I might be tempted to put a wager on Steve McLaren's Newcastle United winning some silverware. McLaren is a far-better coach than his detractors in the English football media would have us think.
"The Wally With The Brolly" was a good Sun headline, but, McLaren always was better than that. Also, his new Number Two, Ian Cathro, just might be the guy to get the best out of the many good young players who are produced on Tyneside.
I cannot think of a great Geordie player to have been produced by United, since the boy Gazza - that's far-too-ling to have had "crop failure", Cathro just might turn things around, which can only help put a smile back on the face of the Toon Army - THE most-committed supporters in the UK. I wish him, and McLaren, well.
OH DEAR! Oh dear! Oh dear! The draw for first round of the Diddy Teams' Diddy Cup, announced today, has paired the Rangers Tribute Act with Hibs - the Dream Final which everyone in Scottish football was hoping for.
I know all about: "the romance of the cup"; "the uncertainty of all-in draws"; and, of course, the fact: "It has aye been done this way", but, no half-way-sensible organisation would allow the two biggest draws in any competition entry clash in the very first round.
You wouldn't get Murray v Djorkovic or Federer v Nadal in the first round at Wimbledon, so quite why Scottish, or indeed British football continues to avoid seedings in knock-out competitions is beyond me.
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