Source: Team_Talk
Smith: Player limit not a problem
Under FIFA's '6+5' proposals, each club would field at least six players eligible for the national team in the starting XI, with no limit on foreign substitutes or on the number of foreigners in a squad.
Smith admits such a ruling would have left Scotland at a major disadvantage in the past but, with the emergence of homegrown talent in recent years, he believes that would no longer be the case.
He said: "I don't think it's a great disadvantage for us now; it may have been a few years ago when we had a fair number of foreign players.
"We've got a fair base of Scottish players now so I don't think it would be a major disadvantage.
"It just means the pressure is on the country to keep producing a level of player that will satisfy all the teams, that would be the only element of doubt in my mind."
However, Smith was more sceptical about another proposed change to the game.
The International Football Association Board will meet in Northern Ireland on Saturday, with one of the items for discussion extending the half-time break from 15 to 20 minutes.
Smith said: "As long as they make the 20-minute half-time 20 minutes and not a 15-minute half-time, which is 18 minutes as it is at the present moment, then that's okay.
"Twenty minutes at half-time, we would need a warm-up before starting the second half.
"I think football is all right just now; I don't see that they should be messing around with it the way they are doing.
"But, then again, maybe I'm a little bit old-fashioned."
