John Collins would be interested in becoming national performance director at the Scottish Football Association. The role is a key recommendation made in the first part of former First Minister Henry McLeish's Scottish Football Review, commissioned by the SFA in a bid to rejuvenate the game in Scotland.

The former Hibernian boss, said: "If they (SFA) wanted to talk to me, I would be more than happy to talk to them about that role.

"I'm not pitching for any job or chasing for any job, I'm quite happy at the moment working in the media.

"But if they wanted to talk to me, I would be glad to talk to them." Collins has strong views as to why Scotland have not qualified for the finals of a major tournament since the 1998 World Cup in France, where he scored a penalty in the 2-1 opening-game defeat by Brazil.

"We have not been at a World Cup for 12 years and the reason is we are not good enough, it's as simple as that," he said.

"Technically we have fallen behind other nations and we have to look at solving the problems.

"It starts at grass-roots level, with kids at seven, eight, nine and 10, and it's got to be all about skill, to be able to deal with the ball.

"It's not about who is big and strong, who can play at centre-half, who can kick it the furthest, we have to get rid of that.

"We have to coach the coaches, to make sure the coaches are transmitting the proper messages to the kids.

"Pass and move, treat the ball with care and attention, don't give it away easily and then you will start developing technically-gifted players.

"It sounds simplistic - it is simplistic.

"The SFA are working on it, there's no doubt about that, but they have to work harder.

"There have to be rules and regulations put in place.

"If a coach is coaching a youth team and he is not coaching them properly, not transmitting the right messages, then the coach has got to be removed because he is doing more damage than good."