Former Scotland manager Craig Brown believes the national team is paying the price for squandering the chance to follow the French model in developing young players.
Dons director Brown, pictured, was part of a Scottish FA development group that discussed copying a French policy of restricting top-flight clubs to a maximum of 20 players over the age of 20.
The French introduced the ruling after failing to qualify for the World Cups in 1990 and 1994 – and it reaped rewards with the national team becoming world champions in 1998 and Euro 2000 winners.
Old Firm rivals Celtic and Rangers vetoed the plans and Brown said: “Celtic and Rangers felt it would have put them at a disadvantage in European competitions.
“If we had managed to get that rule approved it could have given more young Scottish players a chance, but we couldn’t reach agreement.
“Bert van Lingen, the Rangers representative at the meeting, said: ‘What happens when we face a German side who have 30 senior professionals?’
“But the French clubs were still making progress in Europe at the time.
“Not long before that meeting, Auxerre had beaten Rangers 2-0 at Ibrox.
“Rangers had only one Scottish player in their team that night.”
Peterhead manager Jim McInally has called on Scotland’s pro youth set-up to be scrapped, saying that he has come across 16 and 17-year-olds who felt “suicidal” after being rejected.
Scotland manager Gordon Strachan has also criticised the current youth set-up and will unveil a blueprint in the coming weeks that will lead to a radical shake-up of the game.
Brown is in favour of removing the age restrictions in the SPFL development league and feels youth football would benefit from greater regionalisation.
He added: “We have under-13 and under-14 club teams travelling the length of the country to play against each other.
“This was something we never used to do in the past.
“The time they are spending travelling to games could be used honing their skills instead.”