The SFA should learn from Iceland’s football success.

As another qualifying campaign passes by, unsurprisingly the outcome remains the same for our national team - failure to qualify for another major tournament. This disappointment in a succession of poor campaigns means that it will have been 20 years since our national team last qualified for anything major.

Aged only one years old when Craig Brown led the National team to our last world cup campaign in France 98, I have since grown accustomed to poor performances on the pitch and controversy off the pitch but as the SFA now searches for Gordon Strachan’s successor we must realise that player management isn’t the core issue hindering our chances of qualification but rather a lack of investment in academy systems which should be nurturing and develop our youngest footballing talent within our homeland.

Structural changes in youth development, adequate football facility funding and strategic planning began in Iceland upon the start of the millennium and the nations national football team are already reaping the rewards. The Icelandic Football Association, in partnership with Sigurður Jónsson (ex-Arsenal and Dundee United star) , Arnor Gudjohnsen (father of ex-Barcelona and Chelsea striker, Eidur) and former Bolton Wanderers man Gudni Bergsson, sparked the revolution in Icelandic football through the introduction of the nations first elite youth academy.

Iceland's football association has overseen massive investment in the past 18 years to ensure that  the young footballing talent are provided with infrastructure necessary to assist them in developing their skills. There are now 30 full-size all-weather pitches, seven of which are indoors, and almost 150 smaller artificial arenas that ensure youngsters at grassroots can continue to play football in winter inside indoor heated dome structures - a stark contrast to the grassroots game in Scotland where football outside the four- or five-month summer period means small-sided games for our youth on hard indoor floor.

Furthermore, the revolution of the game within Iceland has seen a vast increase in qualified coaches entering the Island, with around 650 people holding a UEFA B license according to the national footballing body. Instead the Scottish game relies heavily on clubs within our top flight producing and growing young talents whilst investing in an outdated coaching system that fails to provide the type of players necessary to well equip our national team to compete for a place within major International and European competitions.

With a turnover of £35.8 million posted by the SFA last year, compared with a mere £7 million posted by the Icelandic footballing authorities, there is no doubt that we can afford sizeable investment in our game at every stage of development in order to provide much needed long term success.