David Weir has been there and done that in Scotland and England so is one ex-player worth listening to regarding the way forward for Scotland. he is not for a knee-jerk reaction to recent international results and believes things have "conspired against" Scotland recently and does not think a change of manager is needed. Weir was in the last Scotland squad to appear on the world stage in the 1998 World Cup and played under Craig Levein. Now retired from playing and working as a coach with Everton, Weir does not see much value in removing Levein from the Scotland manager's post despite qualification for Brazil 2014 looking very much dead in the water with two points from four games. Weir said: "We should expect better results but there is such a fine line between winning and losing. There is no better example than the Wales game. We were winning 1-0, relatively comfortable, scored another great goal and the game was probably finished. The goal gets disallowed and Wales go up the other end and score and we end up losing the game. To qualify you need everything to conspire for you."
Craig Levein has his supporters (c) Ger Harley | SportPix.org.uk The SFA are due to discuss the poor start to the 2014 qualification campaign next week knowing that the fans are looking for a change of manager to give a new man time to settle in before the Euro 2016 campaign. Weir said: "It is difficult but the players obviously do believe in the manager and believe what he's preaching to him and his structure, and that goes a long way. Things have conspired against us, we have probably not had the rub of the green. Ultimately everyone knows you are judged on results. But I don't think you can question the detail the manager has gone into and the atmosphere he has created, and he has got the best players there. It's very difficult to qualify but he seems to have got the players behind him and is doing the best job he can." SFA performance director Mark Wotte has warning that changing the culture in Scotland will take time and the centres of excellence he has introduced will take four to six years to come to fruition. He, like many other, blames some of Scottish football's problems on diet and lifestyle choices, specifically burgers and fortified wine. Weir moved to the USA to stop his career ending before it began, with a football scholarship paving the way for a long career with Falkirk, Hearts, Everton and Rangers and he admits he would not have achieved this if he had stayed in Scotland. He said: "I definitely wouldn't have done. I know that for a fact. Mine was obviously a very different pathway from the majority of pathways and I wouldn't change it for the world. It was unconventional in the respect I went to America when I was 17/18 because I wasn't perceived to be good enough at the time. I went away and probably grew up and learnt a lot, and came back and had to start at the bottom of the ladder again. It worked out well for me, it probably wouldn't work for everyone. Everybody has got a different pathway and it's important kids realise that. It's not just about being the best player at nine, 10, 11 or 14 and 15. It's about developing as a person and a player." Weir can see improvements in the coaching system since his teenage days. He said: "When I was growing up in youth football, it was jumpers on the grass and go and play. There is definitely more organisation and thought being put into it. Time will tell whether it's successful but I don't think you could criticise anyone for lack of effort or lack of time spent thinking what the best way forward is. You don't want to create robots and people who have no personalities, and are just channelled through one particular area and haven't got a little bit of an edge or something special about them. Obviously the burgers and the Buckfast aren't the way forward but I don't think it's quite as black and white. You can't change a nation's culture overnight either. There are things being put in place and I think we are better educated in that respect now. Society in general realises that diet and a healthy lifestyle helps produce better football players and healthy lives in general, but it has taken time to sink in."Source: ScottishFitba
Source: FOOTYMAD
