Levein is "excited" at the prospect of change in Scottish football

Scotland coach Craig Levein has welcomed the second part of Henry McLeish's review of Scottish football and is eager to see change implemented.

McLeish has recommended a two-tier top flight with 10 teams in each division, the return of a winter break, fewer governing bodies and regionalisation.

"The important thing is that the Scottish FA actually follow some of these things through," said Levein.

"I feel this would be a significant time for Scottish football."

Asked if he had had an influence in the report itself, Levein joked: "I don't think anybody could influence Henry.

"I've certainly had a number of chats with him as have a lot of people at the SFA. It's an exciting time for Scottish football; so many things happening, so many changes about to happen.

"Over the years I've had my disagreements with the SFA and the way it's been set up and I took the job as the national team manager partly to affect some change. So, I'm really pleased that there's going to be a real shake-up in Scottish football and I think it's needed."

Levein was keen not to be drawn on specific recommendations laid out in the report but feels the emphasis on youth development will benefit the national team.

"Everything will help," said the former Hearts and Dundee United boss. "A lot of things have needed to change for a long, long time.

"A lot of people have been sceptical about the fact that there would be change. The knowledge that I have is that things will change. It's a number of things that will need to change, it's not just one thing that will make a difference.

"Ultimately, what I'm looking for is to improve the quality of players available for the national team manager to pick. It's important that everybody recognises that we can do much better in that regard.

"We have a lot of really good players but we always want more and we want to improve the standard of the leagues and improve the standard of the national team and to do that we need to move with the times and make some changes.

"You can make it a 20-team league, if the managers won't give young players a chance then it doesn't matter how many teams are in the league.

"The philosophy has to be that if we're going to concentrate on young players and bring them through then they have to be given opportunities and that doesn't just mean the SPL teams. Going back 20-25 years, a lot of very, very good Scottish international players came through the lower leagues."

The Scottish Premier League will next week consider adopting a structure that broadly mirrors McLeish's vision of two-tier top flight.

We'll all have different opinions. Maybe Scotland isn't big enough to be regionalised, I don't know Craig Levein

Those plans have met with scepticism and many Scottish Football League teams are unconvinced of the merits of regionalisation.

"There will be people who don't like things changing, that's always the case," added Levein. "But I think if we're serious about improving the game in Scotland then things have to change.

"We could argue about all the individual things that need to be changed and exactly what is the best way forward. I think you also have to appreciate that the clubs themselves in the SPL have looked very seriously at what they need to do.

"So they won't be doing anything or taking anything lightly, they'll be doing what they think's right for Scottish football.

"The SPL, the SFL and the SFA; a lot of people said in the past that they couldn't get on and couldn't work together. My opinion in the last year or so is that there are a lot of people willing to work together to improve Scottish football and that can only be good.

"We'll all have different opinions. Maybe Scotland isn't big enough to be regionalised, I don't know. Henry McLeish has looked at this in great depth since his last report came out. There are points in there that might not be picked up on but it's a catalyst for change and that's the important thing."

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