Simply put, the 2020 Vision was “a framework for promoting, fostering and developing football in this country”. The general ethos for the main targets was for the national side to succeed at the highest level, and to use that success to further grow the game.
It was considered realistic that the men’s side could qualify for two out of the next three tournaments, and it was hoped the women’s side could qualify for Euro 2017 and the 2019 World Cup.
For the men’s side, Gordon Strachan tried – and failed. Alex McLeish tried – and failed. Steve Clarke will try – but should he guide Scotland to their first major tournament in 22 years, it will still fall short of the expectations set five years ago (when targets were revised from 2011).
Henry McLeish says the buck doesn’t stop with the man on the touchline though, and would rather see more radical change at the top where he believes there is a “lack of ambition”.
“When there’s a problem, change the manager – why?” he wondered.
“We don’t change the board of the SFA, we don’t change the president. Getting rid of the manager is really the easy option and the man we’ve got at present is a really good manager.
“But the problems he faces are not his, he hasn’t created them, they’ve come from the SFA, they’ve come from the lack of ambition, the lack of interest, the lack of excitement that’s generated around young people.”
Former Scotland manager Craig Levein agrees that changing manager is not always the solution – he believes Scotland’s issue has always been “impatience”, for example, in changing the manager at the “drop of a hat” like many other nations and clubs in recent years.
Doing so seems to have had little effect – not just on the targets for qualification, but on Scotland’s general results against top quality teams.