SFA performance director Malky Mackay says that young players should follow the example of the new head coach of the national women’s team, Shelley Kerr, if they want to make it to the top.

And he has again blasted the habits and diets of our young players, believing that the reason Scots are not excelling physically when they reach their late teens is because ‘we like pie suppers’.

Kerr, who was unveiled at Hampden yesterday and will take over from current coach Anna Signeul after this summer’s European Championships, won over 50 caps for her country as a player.

Mackay believes that his choice for the role got to where she is today by dedication, hard work and sacrifice, a lesson he is trying to hammer home to all of our young players, whatever their gender.

“At 17 there are certain things ingrained in them that are not good enough,” Mackay said. “You’ve got to eat and train properly, train to the extent our top athletes and Olympians do.

“The focus at 17-21 is to get them to play against men as quickly as possible and girls against women quicker.

“At 11 and 12 we should show them how hard it is to become a player - this is how to eat, because we’re fighting against genetics and our national diet when too many people are dying in their fifties from heart disease.

“We’ve got to get body fats low so they don’t look 12 years old when they’re 25. You get my point.

“We look at players from other international teams playing international football at 18 and 19 with A frame physiques and we ask why we’re not like that. We’re just not. We like pie suppers.

“We’ve got to educate them. All the way along, it goes hand in glove. How do we get our kids at 11 to become full international footballers like Shelley?

“Shelley talks about football as her passion since 8 and I was the same at Queen’s Park when I played and had a job as well.

“As parents you can’t let them off the hook and start the education process, but there has to be an inner desire to get over adversity in their lives because everyone has adversity in their lives.

“The ones who come through it take it on, others chuck it. Shelley won over 50 caps, worked in a factory, went away and had a baby, came back.

“Then she overcame the adversity to become the first women’s coach in the men’s game to now becoming the national team manager.

“My job is to highlight people like her: ‘There’s the national manager, who started work in a factory.’”

Kerr, who is currently still employed as manager of Lowland League side Stirling University, had raised hopes that a female coach may be about to shatter the glass ceiling into the senior men’s game.

But the chance to take over her country was just too hard to resist.

“I think I did break down some barriers in terms of the role I have at Stirling University,” Kerr said.

“I certainly can only speak positively about my experience. I have been well received by the players, other coaches, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Stirling Uni.

“Obviously when it is your national team though it's a no brainer.

“I don’t think it’s a gender thing [why she never got a senior job]. There’s a lot of good coaches out there you are competing with. There’s more then Shelley Kerr with a pro licence and a certain skillset.

“The market for good coaches is significant. It’s not a gender thing, it’s competition.

“You can never say never about anything. But the here and now is that I am absolutely thrilled about my appointment and can't wait to get started.”