Partick Thistle managing director Ian Maxwell says that the elite academy structure put forward by the SFA’s ‘Project Brave’ initiative will not adversely affect his club as they don't budget for player sales.

Clubs such as Motherwell have railed against the proposal to create a two-tier youth structure, where under the SFA’s controversial scoring system, they along with Thistle could be excluded from the eight-team elite division.

Fir Park chairman Jim McMahon went as far to describe the initiative as the biggest current existential threat to his club as it may deny them access to the best young talent, but Maxwell is far more relaxed about the effect it would have on the Thistle Weir Academy.

“Our academy is only about three years old now," Maxwell said. "We’ve not really got the history of developing players that Motherwell have got, so we can be a wee bit more relaxed about it.

“Alan Burrows can rhyme off half a dozen guys that have come through that Motherwell academy that have ended up Scotland internationals. We’ve not really had that, so it puts you in a slightly different mind-set.

“I think because we don’t have that £200,000 cash sale sitting in our budget, which I’m not saying they do, but because we don’t think that way at the moment it probably makes us look at it a little bit differently.

“My biggest issue with the whole thing has been the communication around about it.

“If you have a journey to go on, then you have to take people with you and make them understand why you are doing it. It can’t just be ‘here’s an email, here’s what is happening’, because everyone will instantly look at the negatives and say ‘how is this going to affect my club?’

“If it’s for the good of Scottish football, then explain that you know it might not suit everyone down to the ground, but here are the reasons why you’re doing it.

“Selling a player doesn’t affect our bottom line, but that’s not to say we’re not trying to get to the point where the aim is to sell a player every season or transfer window like Motherwell have managed to do recently.”

What the Thistle board are determined to do, is ensure that they protect their investment in their young talent by offering them extended deals, with the knowledge the club won’t stand in their way if a suitable offer arrives.

“It’s about making sure the younger ones are signed up,” Maxwell said. “There’s reportedly been a bit of interest in Liam Lindsay, Kevin Nisbet is on a fairly long contract, James Penrice has extended his deal too, so those are players you might think there could be some interest in down the line.”

Maxwell hopes that even if the Thistle Weir Academy fails to make the initial cut to be classed as an ‘elite academy’, that they can aim to get there in the future.

“I think that’s something that we’ll look at,” he said. “I hope it’s not a closed shop. From what I can read into it, they are giving you a period of time to get there.

“It all revolves around more full-time coaches, which can only benefit the players, so it’s something I’d like to think that we would be able to have a serious look at going for and try our best to get there.

“It’s important given all we have done with the academy that you don’t want to see that all of a sudden just stop.”

Despite the standard of player at full international level declining, Maxwell believes that the academy structure in Scotland is actually performing well among lower age groups, and it is the guidance players receive when they leave academies that requires urgent attention.

“Up to 17s, we as a nation are fairly competitive,” he said. “The 15s qualify for the UEFA Championships, the 17s do ok, even the 19s do alright. It’s at 21 that we fall off a cliff.

“That’s the important stage for me. We can maybe tinker with what happens underneath that, but I don’t see that as being the massive problem.”