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Date: 21st August 2026
The Development Job with a Glass Ceiling
By Donald C Stewart
Stephen Glass has turned down the opportunity to return to Scottish football. Did you miss it? Was Glass not a name on your radar?
Given the current state of play over the future of Scottish football and the development route for young players, it is surprising that this did not get more prominence because Scott Gemmell has left the under-21s job after several years at the summit of it being Scottish FA’s coach. Glass had been approached by the SFA to see if he’d be interested in the job given that he has recently left Ferencvaros where he was the assistant to Robbie Keane.
The 50-year-old allegedly turned him down on the basis that it was not the right time to come back into Scottish football. Keane also left Ferencvaros and is out of a job, was interviewed for the Celtic job and has been linked with the Sloven Bratislava post as well.
However, all of that is irrelevant to the Scottish scene. Glass clearly didn’t fancy coming to be part of the SFA setup and no matter what he says in terms of the reasons given I feel it’s a bit like a divorce where we just drifted apart or there was irreconcilable differences where in actual fact it was probably due to one party not offering something attractive to the other.
But respect to Glass that he had the ability to say no. Just exactly who was going to be the new boss of the big set up was one thing but surely who is the boss of the under 21s is equally important.
Surely this is top of the in tray of the new manager?
OK so there are other priorities for him.
Surely this is top of he in tray of the Chief Executive?
Given our failure at the World Cup to get out of the group stages and the column inches dedicated to Sebastian Pocognoli, the next big shout has to be for the under-21 job.
I have heard Stephen Naismith, Scott Brown, Graham Murty mentioned and to be fair to him Murty is a name that I wouldn’t necessarily balk at. He was the Rangers head of youth which was one of the criticisms levelled at him – it was too big a step up for the boy. He did have an eye on how you develop young players. When he became the head coach it all felt apart.
Whether those of a green persuasion don’t want a Rangers man or there are Rangers fans who feel that he wasn’t good enough for them and therefore shouldn’t be good enough for anybody… who knows.
And so, as we await detail on Pocognoli and the next Nations League campaign, spend a moment thinking about the under-21 manager. It is pivotal. The development of an under-21 team doesn’t just feed the full squad, they give opportunity to a lot of players who might not get a full cap.
They also encourage the development of young players in teams that are not in Glasgow. They scout quite widely and you can see that many players who have come through the under-16s and the under-17s are being developed to be part of a bigger squad and a bigger set-up.
Scottish football benefits from that.
We have an autumn of introspection ahead where we may not end up with a reserve league to develop young players what we should get is an under 21s team with value. The boost of being involved might see a good run of games in the Championship side or lower down that catches the eye and the attention of managers in other leagues. Or it just makes players more rounded as an option for Pogocogli.
Unfortunately, if you develop, I think that means you move out of Scotland and you’re off to England or Europe. But if that’s the route that people need to take to get back into full Scotland mode, then fine but we lose players to bigger leagues. They get to play against unfamiliar teams twice in a league season. They play games where they can express themselves and not be pressured to save the manager’s job. Imagine that, successful leagues with large numbers of teams develop young players. Wonder if it will ever catch on anywhere…
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Tags: oor Donald, Scotland, SFA, Tartan Army