Steve Clarke fires Premiership big guns warning over young players as Scotland boss fears being left behind

Steve Clarke has warned Scottish football’s big-wigs to change the way we develop young players - or fall further behind the top nations.

The Scotland boss says we should learn from tonight’s Hampden opponents, Croatia, in terms of how they nurture talent. Clarke believes there aren't enough kids being given a chance to play at first-team level in this country, which has a direct impact on him. He wants the game’s hierarchy to come up with a solution to the problem. Because he’s adamant that if we don’t, we’ll be left trailing the rest of Europe.

A recent SFA survey highlighted the dearth of talented youngsters in the Scottish Premiership. Damning stats emerged last week which showed that - apart from Motherwell - top flight clubs have given less than eight percent of first-team minutes to Under-21 players this season, with Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen at zero. Ahead of the Nations League clash with Croatia, Clarke says that MUST change.

He said: “If we keep doing what we’re doing, it’s not going to get better. I’m Scotland's head coach and I concentrate on trying to get results and performances for The Tartan Army because they come and watch us.

“Going down into the youth levels, it needs someone with a different skillset - or for me to step away from this job and really think about it more deeply. Because if we continue to do what we’re doing, we’ll always get what we get.

“We have to try and find a way but the change has to be driven from the top. They have to understand we need to change.I’m sure previous head coaches have said it before, going way back. Is there an understanding from the top? Yeah, I think there is but it needs a collective.

“It's not just the people at the Scottish FA, it's the people that are