SFA development chief celebrates strong community spirit seeing Scottish football through lockdown challenges

Head of football development Andy Gould has highlighted how the Scottish FA have helped clubs.

Andy Gould admits community spirit has helped Scottish football rise to the challenge of facing the coronavirus lockdown.

The Scottish FA head of football development believes the impact of the pandemic has created a new normal for communicating with clubs and stockholders as the sport struggles to restart.

But Gould insists maintaining close contact with teams from the Scottish Premiership to grassroots level has been key over the last two-and-a-half months of inactivity.

He said: "We have more than 3,000 clubs across Scotland that provide people with the chance to enjoy football. These clubs are all of different scales, have varying ambitions and so they all face challenges depending on their situation.

"Some have facilities and full-time staff and have had to deal with facility closure, no activity to bring in income and therefore the challenge is mainly financial.

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"Other clubs have a huge part to play in their community beyond football and have been unable to make the same connections and provide the same level of support to people that often rely upon them.

"It is vital we keep communicating with clubs as best we can and this has been both nationally and regionally through surveys, email communications and online meetings as is the new norm.

"We have a series of regional online meetings planned for the next few weeks to speak to clubs and get an idea of the challenges they face and how they aim to overcome them.

"Clubs are extremely resilient and innovative so often our role is about sharing best practice. Some of the simple ideas that clubs have tried have worked very well.

"We have also kept in touch via our club newsletters and have tried to provide some ideas on how clubs can continue to engage with their coaches and players at this time.

"Social media has also been extremely useful and we have seen lots of clubs posting examples of the various ways they are continuing to engage with players and the wider community."

Gould admits he's as anxious as anyone for football to get the green light to get back up and running.

He said: "Like everyone involved in the game, the staff across the department have missed not being able to play football or see their children get the chance to go to their local club and be physically active.

"We know the huge benefit our game provides to those that take part so we are especially keen to see a return to football, however we understand this is going to be a challenging and difficult process.

"At the moment no formal organised football should be undertaken although people who wish to informally practice outdoors with one other person or members of their household should follow Scottish Government guidance on health, physical distancing and hygiene."