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MailSport can finally reveal the eight clubs selected to spearhead the elite level of the SFA’s Project Brave radical new blueprint for youth football.

Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen will be joined by Motherwell, Hamilton and Kilmarnock after a brutal application process for academy status.

The plan – more than 18 months in the making – has caused huge friction amongst most clubs in Scotland’s top two tiers because of the costs involved in meeting strict new standards and criteria on facilities and staff.

(Image: SNS Group) (Image: SNS)

Instigated to cull the game’s overblown ‘Pro Youth’ system, which previously had more than 2300 kids from ages 10 to 17 in 29 so-called elite academies, the plan was to create a top tier of ‘best v best’ and for the SFA’s £2.2 million budget to be spent on outcomes rather than grant funding.

However the prohibitive costs of some of the standards set have led to the exclusion of some of the country’s most productive academies.

St Mirren - who provided four academy graduates among the 22 players starting for Scotland at full and under-21 level inside 24 hours this week - have been left in the second tier known as ‘Performance Progressive’.

(Image: Sunday Mail)

Renowned youth producers Falkirk will join them, alongside the four remaining Premiership clubs Partick Thistle, Ross County, Dundee and St Johnstone.

The make-up of the second and third tranches has yet to be fully finalised, with clubs still going through a series of meetings with an independent panel at Hampden to fight for their status.

Belgian performance specialists Double Pass - who have worked extensively in the Bundesliga, English Premier League and with MLS in America - will come in for the assessment process at the turn of the year.

The plan is expected to be operational in January, with kids up to the age of 16 now switching to a full summer season to aid their development.