THE prospect of yet another year in which a major finals tournament will pass without the national team’s involvement has prompted one prominent outsider to issue the most impassioned clarion call.

Mark Warburton has now completed six months of service in the role of manager at Rangers since agreeing to part company with Brentford and upping sticks from his native London.

In that time, he has spoken at great length over the need to create a pathway from youth level to the first-team at Ibrox. He has reduced the average age of the Rangers first-team squad considerably.

He has made it clear that the footballing philosophy of the entire club will be based around technically-adept individuals and a possession-based game, a philosophy that will be applied as rigorously to the under-age teams as the First XI.

Promoting younger talent is in his blood from his days starting off at the bottom of the ladder in the Watford academy system to setting up the NextGen tournament, pitting the best Under-19 sides from all over Europe against each other, in 2011.

Warburton is tired of hearing people state that Scotland simply doesn’t produce footballers any longer, that society has moved on, that the game no longer inflames the passions of our children the way it once did.

He believes that there remains a wealth of natural talent. It is a failing system, in his mind, that is preventing it from blossoming and he insists that must be addressed before we can truly make progress.

“There is not a dearth of good footballers suddenly,” stated Warburton.“When I grew up, there were so many good Scottish players around such as Gordon McQueen, Joe Jordan, Gordon Strachan.

“All these players were magnificent and, now, apparently, there are no players.

“Look at Barrie McKay and Jason Holt here. There are players in the system. Just give them the chance to be the best they can be.

“If you have a goalkeeper launch the ball 95 yards to a 6ft 6in centre-forward, who lays it off and sees it smashed into the roof of the net, the fans are going to love that because they are winning games of football.

“I think the modern game is changing, though, and that is not going to happen.

“You are now demanding a more technical athlete, who is more tactically astute in terms of formations and finding solutions in games. That is what the game at the highest level demands.

“The higher you go up the pyramid, the more you need players armed with the all the attributes.

“The responsibility lies with the academies and the youth teams to produce players and challenge them.

“I have referred to the NextGen tournament in the past because it put the best against the best. We must make sure our players play against the best around the world. I want them to play Barca, Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, PSG, Lyon. I want them to play in competitive games that mean something.

“How can you go from an Under-20s game with 150 people to playing in front of 50,000 against Hibs on Monday? There has to be something that prepares them to make that transition, to prepare them to succeed.

“At the moment, we prepare them to fail. The players that have come through now have come through despite the system rather than because of it.

“I have done a lot of work with youth players and youth tournaments.

“I had the privilege of working with some of the world’s biggest clubs and you can learn so much. Barcelona, Ajax, Valencia, Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, Aston Villa. There was magnificent work being done in those academies and we have got to make sure that Scottish players are given the best opportunity.”

Warburton has long stated that the only way to cure Scottish football’s ills is to find a way to bring in more money. The game has to be made more attractive, though, and that starts with finding new ways to promote the youth game through dialogue with UEFA and other major European clubs.

“Investment could come in the form of an Under-19s cup involving four Scottish teams,” he said. “There is no box we need to think outside. Just think differently and give the players something to challenge them.”

At senior level, Warburton has received recent evidence that there remains a market for the Scottish game beyond our border. Hearts and Celtic produced a pulsating 2-2 draw at Tynecastle on Boxing Day while Rangers and Hibernian went head-to-head inside a sold-out Ibrox two days later, exhibiting an admirable joint commitment to passing football and attacking play.

“I had so many texts about our game and the Hearts game from people down south,” said Warburton. “They enjoyed watching the Hearts and Celtic game. Loved it. Loved the atmosphere and said what a great place it was for football.

“I came back and had 45 texts after our game from people who enjoyed it. The quality of those two games in terms of the visual spectacle was first-class. The more we can do that, the more investment we can get into Scottish football to improve things.”

Winter breaks and summer football remain hot conversation topics in the great debate over what must be done to make the game more attractive to supporters, sponsors and television companies. A two-week hiatus has been pencilled in for next season’s Premiership campaign, but Warburton seems unimpressed.

“What’s a fortnight?,” he said. “Down south, there is a much harder schedule. This is easy.

“It is another long debate to be had and it is maybe better for another time. I just think that you have got to get it right. If there is a problem with the game, a problem with the product, you have got to get the timing right and look at the alternatives regarding preparation.

“We have to get more investment in the Scottish game. There has to be a better quality of product.

“If that has to be summer football, the whole structure must be amended to make sure the players are fresh, rested and you have time as a coach and a manager to work with your players.

“We need to make sure we know what we are doing and why we are doing it.”