Ian Maxwell pleads for B team plan to get green light as clubs told why self interest should be ditched

Hampden chief Ian Maxwell has pleaded with clubs to sacrifice their own self interest and rubber stamp his B team plan for the good of the national game.

Maxwell’s controversial proposal to create a new Conference League at the fifth tier of the SPFL – which would include colts teams from the Premiership – will go to the vote tomorrow at the SFA’s AGM. And the chief executive is convinced the blueprint will help our top clubs fast-track talented young players into the Scotland set-up. Maxwell’s strategy has attracted fierce criticism from a host of minnows who fear the new league might block their route into the SPFL.

But he is adamant that the game in this country is crying out for radical change – and has urged club chiefs to be brave enough to back it. Maxwell said: “I would love it to be carried because it will have a really positive impact. But people will make their own decisions. People will vote whichever way they think is best for them. We can’t just implement things that we think are right. It’s a democracy.

“But we’re looking at it purely from a player development perspective. There is evidence from Croatia, France, Germany and Spain who have got B teams – I think seven of the top 10 nations in Europe have got B teams within their domestic structures.

“Croatia are often flung up as an example. How can a country with a smaller population perform so well when we can’t? What are they doing that we’re not?

“They’ve got B teams. I’m not saying if we implement B teams in a Conference League we’re going to qualify for every World Cup to come. But we know we have a problem and this is a potential solution to try to fix it.

“We need to come up with something that works in Scotland because there is no one size fits all.