Dundee lead the Premiership for giving young Scots the chance to shine in top-flight football.
An SFA report published on Wednesday highlighted the issues across the board for getting young players make the step from academy football to first team.
Scottish football is “significantly underachieving its potential” on youth development according to the report.
Dundee, however, buck the trend.
A graphic showing minutes given to Scottish players under the age of 21 saw the Dark Blues well clear of the other 11 Premiership clubs.
And posting more than double the average across the division.
Last season Scottish U/21s played 3,538 minutes for Dundee while Aberdeen were next on the list with 2,290.
Bottom of the table were Celtic and Rangers with just 89 and 26 minutes respectively. The league average was 1,258.
In doing so, Tony Docherty’s side achieved an impressive top-six finish in their first season back in the top flight.
Lyall Cameron starred across the campaign and was ably assisted by the likes of Josh Mulligan, Fin Robertson, Charlie Reilly and on-loan Michael Mellon.
‘We are at the forefront’
And Docherty is pleased to see some recognition of the work going on at Dens Park to give young players an opportunity to play.
“That publication really endorses the way the club is going. We are always looking to promote young players and play them in the first team,” he said.
“It is important for Scottish football and we are at the forefront of doing that.
“We’re over double the average of the rest of the Premiership clubs for playing U/21s.
“Last year we had 11 and eight of those were U/21 internationals. This year we started off the campaign with five U/21s starting and then Josh Mulligan came on for a sixth.
“It’s something we are really proud of at the football club.
“It is great credit to the club for having that focus. I’ve always said if they are good enough, they are old enough.
“It is good to see an independent SFA report acknowledging the good work going on at this football club.
“We have been really successful with it on the pitch and doing it with young Scottish players is good recognition.”
Sink or swim
Giving young players the opportunity to flourish has been a key part of Docherty’s approach in the past year.
He’s followed that by giving 20-year-old defender Luke Graham a Premiership debut by starting him in a Dundee derby.
“I’ve been fortunate when I came in here there were really talented U/21 players here,” Docherty added.
“I enjoy working with them. But they are good enough so they go in and they play.
“If you give them that opportunity, my experience is they either sink or swim.
“These ones have certainly swam.”
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