Burger And Buckie

[ian1964 10,565]

MARK WOTTE says Scottish football is on the rocks because kids are raised on a diet of burgers and Buckfast.

The SFAâ??s performance director hit out after Hampden bosses demanded answers from Craig Levein about the World Cup flop.

 

Dutchman Wotte insists we will always lag behind, unless we address dodgy diets and teenage bevvying.

 

Outspoken Wotte said: â??There are many reasons for the decline of Scottish football.

 

â??One of them is lifestyle issues. The kids should not be growing up with crisps, McDonalds and Coca-Cola.

 

â??And when they are 16 they are going on the Buckfast and having a great night. I am not blind, I live close to Glasgow so I see this. There are too many drop-outs at 16 or 17 because they are on the Buckfast and see things they think are better than football. They turn around and say: â??Byee, Iâ??m offâ??. Thatâ??s not the way I want to see this generation.â?

 

Wotte sifted through the wreckage of Scotlandâ??s World Cup collapse and claimed there is no point in sacking beleaguered boss Levein.

 

Instead, he argued we have allowed ourselves to fall so far behind the likes of Belgium it will take years to catch up, regardless of who is in charge.

 

He hailed the revival of the Belgian national team and emergence of stars like Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany, Axel Witsel and Christian Benteke. Wotte added: â??This generation of Belgian players are all very strong.

 

â??I was in a similar job in Holland in 2000-2002 and we played against them a lot at the Under-19â??s. They had no philosophy and only cared about winning. We had Robin van Persie, Nigel de Jong, Arjen Robben and Maarten Stekelenburg at that time.

 

â??But the Belgians appointed Mark van Geersom and he decided to change everything.

 

â??They stopped playing to win all the time, they adopted the 4-3-3 system and visited France a lot.

 

â??They copied the Dutch style of play and the French way of educating players. That was 10 years ago and when you see where Belgium are now it is unbelievable.

 

â??They have brought through a lot of talent and quality since then.

 

â??They beat Holland 4-2 the last time that the teams played.

 

â??They recognised they had to change everything at youth football and thatâ??s what we are trying to do. Belgium are now one of the strongest teams in the world because of what they did.

 

â??They are a good example of how you can change things. Thatâ??s why we need everyone to buy into what we are doing in Scotland.â?

 

Wotte wonâ??t have a say in whether Levein keeps his job after Scotland crashed to the bottom of Group A, but he hopes the ex-Dundee United boss remains in place.

 

He said: â??I donâ??t know whatâ??s going to happen in the next couple of weeks but I hope we can continue what we have been doing. My project is ring-fenced.

 

â??I will keep on doing this, no matter what the position of Craig Levein is, but I hope heâ??s still involved because heâ??s been an instigator of it.â?

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/feeds/smartphone/scotland/4597122/Whats-wrong-with-Scotland.html#ixzz29hGD8LHi

[andy steel 0]

The problem we have is not lifestyle. It plays a role, certainly, but it is not the main problem we have.

 

The problem we have is coaches who refuse to play passing football. Until that changes, we could have 2,000 super fit, ultra-committed players with the ascetic fitness regimen of Nelson Mandela on Robben Island and it would make no difference.