Wotte: Lack of hub is in dark blue ages

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Wotte: Lack of hub is in dark blue ages

SFA performance director Mark Wotte believes that Scotland's lack of a national football centre may have left us trailing 30 years behind his native Holland.

The Dutchman is in charge of the Under-16s who can claim a joint-share of the Victory Shield tonight if they can get the better of England in Burton-on-Trent.

Scotland's kids are staying nearby at the FA's new £105 million palatial St George's Park Football Centre and have been blown away by the world-class facilities, which includes several pitches and two on-site five-star hotels.

SFA bosses are keen for Scotland to have a similar facility of their own and the Scottish Government have pledged £25m to the development, at a yet-to-be-announced venue after tendering for the project is completed.

Wotte said: "The national centre for us is really important to get somewhere we can call home. We are all over the place at the moment.

"It's great that the Government have given us £25m, but now we are looking for partners to build the best centre possible within the range that we have.

"We really don't need 11 pitches, we don't need two hotels – we would be quite happy with one hotel and five pitches. It would be so important for youth development.

"Holland has had two for 20 or 30 years. It is important we create a new philosophy of how to produce kids, together with the performance centre.

"Then you have the facilities to develop the best kids. You can have the best facility in the world, but if you have the wrong philosophy, then it's not going to help you produce good players."

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Families

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