Former SFA performance director Mark Wotte on why Scottish football needs colt teams

­Rangers were reportedly keen on introducing a colt team in the bottom tier of the SPFL within a 14-14-16 reconstruction proposal alongside Celtic, provoking some supporters of clubs lower down the pyramid to voice their opposition to the idea.

It is an issue that has been raised before and even though it is not believed to be on the table for Monday’s reconstruction summit, it is a prospect that is unlikely to fade into obscurity.

Wotte reckons that the introduction of colt sides for the Old Firm would go a long way to improving the quality of footballers that Scotland produces, pointing to the fact that playing professional games against senior clubs allows players to flourish at a crucial stage of their careers.

“I think for the top talented players at around 17 or 18 years old, a colts team is a great opportunity for very talented boys to gain a lot of experience,” Wotte told TheTwoPointOne. “Playing against seniors in a senior league has a lot of benefits, both physically and mentally. The challenge for the boys to play in the seniors is much bigger than playing in a league with your own age groups.

“On the other hand, it’s not so good for the late developers. At 16, 17 or 18 years old they need a little more time to grow into first-team football but generally speaking – I can judge the way it’s happening in Holland with the Ajax B team who play in the second tier of Dutch professional football – it’s very beneficial and has created some great football players already.

“I think if you look at Germany and Spain, it [the introduction of colt teams] has been happening for more than a decade. These two countries have produced a great amount of world-class players that have come through the system.

“The talent management from the youth academies to the coaches and into the first team is a proven set-up. There’s no discussion over whether it will work, it’s just a matter of other countries and federations and the clubs and if they are willing to install a set-up like this, and sometimes it’s been denied because of financial restrictions.

“You need to have a separate professional coaching staff, you need to have a team that is capable that of playing in the second or third tier of professional football. But I think the German and Spanish systems, and now the last six or seven years in Holland, has proved that it works.

“When you are 17 and the best player in the under-18s you need a podium to shine and as soon as you can play football with professional seniors, your development will go much faster and there will be a lot of benefits of playing high-tempo, with more pressure, with press, with fans and with results. It’s nothing new because 40 or 50 years ago all the top footballers in the world were playing first-team football when they were 16 or 17, so to create a team one step before this is happening is a very good system.”

Critics of the concept argue that the loan system currently allows top-flight teams to send players out to get much-needed game-time in a competitive environment, thereby reducing the need for colt sides.

However, Wotte explained that while the loan system has its benefits, things are not quite as clear cut as they first appear.

“It’s a set-up that can work for individual players but when you are the coach of Celtic and you want your players to be educated with a certain philosophy or way of playing, you need to know that the club you send your player out on loan to has a coach that is on the same page,” Wotte said.

“At Ajax, for instance, they have a very particular playing style. When they put out a player on loan, they only do it to a club with the same philosophy or same values. With a colts team, you can ensure the coaching style yourself because you are the one to put the coach with the youngsters. You can have a very close relationship with the head coach of the team. The head coach of Rangers can talk to the coach of the colts team playing in League One or League Two and it’s very easy to communicate.

“And at the halfway point of the season, the top talented players can make the step up to the first team. A loan system is also possible but I think for certain clubs who can afford it and have a lot of very young players, a colts team is the best set-up.”

Wotte served as the SFA’s performance director between 2011 and 2014, with finding the best route of player development his primary goal. As a big believer in colt sides, the Dutchman attempted to introduce the idea to Scottish football during his time at Hampden but was met with stiff opposition due to the lack of resources available.

He continued: “I remember back in 2011/12 we had some discussions with some clubs about a technical platform and most of the discussion was about money. There was no money for the reserve league, there was no money for colts teams, so I came up with the idea of the under-20s league so that youngsters can play with and against five senior players.

“I don’t think there was a lot of support for colts teams at that time. I remember talking to [Celtic’s head of youth development] Chris McCart about having a colts team in one of the lower leagues. He was very much in favour of that but Scottish football was not ready for it at that time. Hopefully it will happen soon.

“The lower leagues didn’t want colts teams from Celtic and Rangers competing with them for the title. Some clubs didn’t want to install colt teams because of the additional investment. At that time, we quickly came up with the under-20s league and after a couple of years it changed its name to the development league.

“But it’s a fact that for decades, the gap between the youth team and the first team is huge. To play on the Monday night on pitch 25 without any entourage or ambience, with no fans and no press, it’s not comparable to the football that we have to prepare them for. We have to prepare them for points, for the public and the press. You need to give the young kids the next challenge to adapt themselves to. As the last step into the first team, it could be the biggest step possible.

“What do you do with the most talented young player at 16 or 17? Do you throw him in the first team? Most of the time the manager in charge of the first team doesn’t want to have an inexperienced player, so what do you do with him? Let him train with the first team then play in an uninteresting league where he doesn’t develop himself quickly.

“It is proven that the likes of Mathijs De Ligt, Frenkie De Jong, Justin Kluivert, they played only six months in the under-19s then they had to play in the second tier with young Ajax. Most of those boys made their debut for the Ajax first team in the same season and some were eventually sold for 100 million.

“The talent management in this set-up is much more guaranteed to produce top players and it’s a black hole after the youth competitions. There are a lot of players falling in the black hole instead of being picked up by a good set-up with a lot of recognition and challenges.

“For me, it’s a no-brainer. The top talented boys from 16 or 17 years old coming through the academies of Rangers, Hearts or Hibs or wherever are better off in League One or League Two, getting senior game-time. There is no better education than playing against senior players in the first team.”