Craig Mulholland is determined to leave a positive legacy by shaping the future of youth development in Scotland after being appointed as the SFA’s chief football officer.
Mulholland, who spent the best part of 20 years working in the Rangers academy, left his position with Nottingham Forest to take up his new role with the SFA earlier this summer.
His first task was to lead the search for a new manager following the resignation of Steve Clarke on the back of the World Cup.
Mulholland was instrumental in the SFA’s use of data and analytics throughout the recruitment which eventually led them to the appointment of Sebastien Pocognoli.
Pocognoli signed a two-year deal earlier this week, with the 39-year-old Belgian becoming Scotland’s first foreign head coach in over 20 years.
Mulholland will now turn his attention to the issue of youth development, with the SFA due to meet all Scottish top-flight clubs in St Andrews next month.
Scottish FA chief football officer Craig Mulholland is determined to leave a legacy
In recent years, Scotland has consistently ranked among the lowest nations in Europe in terms of minutes offered to homegrown players under the age of 21.
Mulholland accepts that some of the top clubs in Scotland may wish to suit their own agenda in terms of how they develop players but he hopes all parties can work constructively towards a greater good, with the SFA keen to emphasise the extra finance that can be generated via player development and trading models.
‘I’ve sat on the other side of these conversations for one of the biggest clubs in the country for years,’ said Mulholland.
‘Listen, you care about the national team because you are Scottish and proud of it. A lot of our ownership groups aren’t even Scottish now but still care about the national team. So I don’t think that’s a driver for the clubs.
‘The clubs, when you’re working for them, it’s about making your club better. So the driver here isn’t about making the national team better, it’s: “How can we make your club better? How can we bring more money to your club?”
‘That just makes Scottish football better, makes your club better. That’s got to be the driver.
‘The by-product for us is if there’s more players playing then there’s more for Sebastien to go and pick from. That’s great. But the driver more for the clubs is how can we generate the significant revenues that Austria, Switzerland are getting? We’re not talking about big, big countries. Why are we not getting that?
‘I’m going to say something daft. You know the way we talk about modern football terminology. And we almost apologise for using it. Well, the rest of the world is talking like that. So why should we be the country that is apologising for using it if that’s what the players are used to? Let’s actually go and smash a few plates and see if we can get somewhere.
‘I could have stayed in England when I left Forest. I could certainly have earned a hell of a lot more money in England, let me tell you. But this isn’t about money. There’s actually a chance to leave a bit of a legacy and change something here.
Mulholland spoke as he helped unveil new Scotland boss Sebastien Pocognoli at Hampden
‘I spoke to Ian [Maxwell, SFA chief executive] and Mike [Mulraney, SFA president]. Mike’s words were that for the first time in 20 years the SFA are more open to change than perhaps what they had ever been. That excited me.
‘It’s about saying once in your career, can you leave a bit of a legacy? Let’s give it a go and see if we can do something a bit different, a bit special.’
When the meeting at St Andrews was initially reported, some had claimed that the SFA had demanded a conference with all clubs in order to address youth development. But Mulholland insisted that was not true. Instead, he believes there is a desire across the board to tackle the problem of how Scotland produces young players.
‘Hopefully we are not fighting with the clubs,’ he continued. ‘Can we get any more sponsorship in our game? Probably not.
‘Can we get any more broadcast in our game? Probably not. They have plateaued across the world.
‘Can you get more bums on seats? Well, we know we are the highest of any country in Europe for that.
‘So the only bit, if we want to grow in partnership with our clubs, is the revenues we can get from player trading by having a proper playing trading strategy.
‘I noticed some of the comments about the SFA “summoning clubs” to St Andrews. That’s nonsense. We’ve not “summoned” anyone anywhere. What we want to do is create a new bit where we work incredibly closely with the clubs.
‘Different topic — one of the things we’ll do now is the national youth team coaches will get four clubs each and go into the clubs once a fortnight. And they’ll say: “How can we help you grow your club?”
‘It might be a technical aspect, it might be player trading strategy, they might be struggling with an injury problem that we can then get an expert in to help them.
SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell with Pocognoli and Mulholland at Celtic’s game against LASK
‘If we’re going to get this game better, then we need to get the SFA and clubs working hand in hand — and the Press, the public. Because we also need to accept we can’t be sitting bottom of the tables across Europe for giving young players minutes and think that’s okay. We need to be aware of the reality of the problem.
‘I was 20 years at Rangers, so I’m not sitting here preaching to anyone. I was part of that problem; we were all part of it. But now we need to be brave enough to say, right, we’re at a bit of a crossroads. We’ve just come back from a World Cup, we’re lowest in that league table for player minutes.
‘We have appointed an exciting new coach. Can we now go after some other bits and give ourselves more of a chance?”
‘We’ve got a number of ideas. You only need to look at other comparable European nations and to what they are doing.’
Mulholland insisted that the Scotland setup will need refreshing, particularly in terms of the younger generation and the squad players.
‘One of the myths I wasn’t sure about in my head and the data had to tell us was — remember when Wales were outstanding?’ he continued. ‘We all thought that was because they had Gareth Bale. Or you look at Norway just now with Erling Haaland and they think it’s because of Haaland.
‘Turns out it’s not. The success of your group is dictated by your bottom-end players — not the guy at the top end.
‘Scotland’s top-end players compare well from a data perspective with other countries’ top-end players. What we need to do is make sure we are refreshing the group.’
Mulholland worked with Rangers when a young Billy Gilmour trained with the first team
Former Monaco and Union Saint-Gilloise boss Pocognoli was picked after the SFA opened their doors to AI, data and analytics during the recruitment process. His first matches will come against Slovenia and Switzerland once the Nations League campaign gets under way next month.
‘I know for a fact he was on the list of some Premier League clubs,’ said Mulholland. ‘Part of my job is to know the intel of what those clubs are looking at.
‘We profiled about 40 coaches through the data. We went and spoke to loads in honesty but the personal bit becomes really important.
‘My belief is you have clubs and associations now that are really data-led. That’s fine and we need to be there in this world, it’s nothing new. But then you need to go and say: “Is this person going to connect with the players? What’s our top lads going to feel when he walks into the dressing room for the first time?
‘You’re only going to get that by spending time with him. Sebastien and I had about six hours in London. Ian and I then met him in Brussels and had about five hours with him there.
‘He’s constantly been on the group chat since then with a million questions. He’s forgetting this is my first camp this next one as well, I don’t know all the answers. His enthusiasm for it has been brilliant.’
