First Minister Alex Salmond is a known fan of Scottish football

First Minister Alex Salmond has promised that the Scottish Government will do "everything in its power" to help Scottish football improve.

He was speaking after a meeting with former First Minister Henry McLeish and top officials from the Scottish Football Association.

McLeish chaired the recent Scottish Football Review.

In the first part of his report, the former professional footballer made 53 recommendations to improve the game.

A system of football academies and kids' summer football were among them.

And Salmond and Sports Minister Shona Robison met McLeish, SFA president George Peat, chief executive Stewart Regan and vice-president Campbell Ogilvie at the Scottish Parliament to discuss forms of co-operation.

Football is an important part of the fabric of our nation and communities the length and breadth of Scotland benefit from the valuable contribution of our favourite national sport Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond

The First Minister stressed that the Scottish Parliament takes the issue of national participation in sport - in particular football - seriously and wished to offer assistance in achieving the ambitions of McLeish's report into the state of Scottish football.

"Football is an important part of the fabric of our nation and communities the length and breadth of Scotland benefit from the valuable contribution of our favourite national sport," said Salmond.

"At today's meeting with the SFA and Henry McLeish, we discussed how the Scottish Government can work with the SFA now and in the future to take forward the recommendations of the McLeish review.

"We all share the same goals for a healthier population and for Scottish football to be the very best it can be.

"The Scottish Government will do everything in its power to achieve these aims and will continue to work to encourage young people to be more physically active across all sports by creating community sports hubs and focusing the variety of our funding streams to ensure we are maximising our investment into sport."

In April, Scotland's football authorities and the government were challenged to come up with £500m to solve what McLeish's report claims is a crisis in the game.

The former Labour MSP made 53 recommendations in the first part - focusing on the grassroots - of his Scottish Football Review.

SFA chief executive Stewart Regan said that the challenges were not unique to football, but a concerted effort would be made to work closely with the government's sporting bodies to create a working platform for development.

"Today's meeting was productive in establishing the importance of a joint approach from the Scottish Government and the Scottish FA in implementing some of the key recommendations of the Henry McLeish Review.

"The key aspect is that football cannot do this on its own: we require a collective approach from all stakeholders, and other sports, to ensure children in this country have the best access possible to the best facilities and best coaching, so that they in turn have the best chance of achieving excellence.

"We are committed to working with the Scottish Government and other sports to achieve these aims."

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