The Scottish Football Association have defended "Project Brave" after Livingston blamed the initiative in their decision to axe their youth structure.
The Almondvale outfit have taken what they say is the "incredibly difficult decision" to withdraw support to their teams below the first team and new reserve side.
It is a system that has in the past developed the likes of Robert Snodgrass, Graham Dorrans, Leigh Griffiths, Murray Davidson, James McPake and Andrew Halliday.
However, the West Lothian club claim the changes brought in through Project Brave have made it "impossible" for them to continue with their youth set-up and instead they will have to focus on this season’s Premiership campaign.
Chairman Robert Wilson said: “Livingston Football Club today took the strategic and financial decision to withdraw support for the youth academy football teams.
“Project Brave has placed Livingston FC in the bottom tier of the new youth structure, with funding and governance requirements which make it impossible for the club to continue with its aim of nurturing young talent through top-class competition.
“This has been an incredibly difficult decision for the club, but we have agreed that our focus must now be on the Premiership and the huge challenge ahead this season.
“We will of course continue with a reserve team, which allow for players from 16-plus years of age to participate, and thus providing opportunities for young players to progress to the first-team squad.
“Livingston FC recognises the outstanding work of coaches Jimmy Dunn and Peter Main, the support from parents, guardians and friends, and the dedication of ambitious young players.
“We are committed to doing all we can to help coaches and players going forward by helping to place them with new clubs.”
However, the SFA have defended Project Brave and insisted Livingston are not now financially worse off because of the changes.
A statement read: “The Scottish FA notes the course of action taken by Livingston Football Club to withdraw support of their youth teams.
“We appreciate that this will not have been an easy decision for them to make and that it will have a significant impact on staff and the young players involved in the respective age levels.
“Our overriding concern at this time is for the young footballers who have been affected by this change in Livingston’s strategic direction.
“Clubs are invited to apply for the youth level they feel is most appropriate for them. Livingston applied for their place in the ‘Advanced Youth’ tier, which includes a level of funding consistent with that received before the introduction of Project Brave – honouring a Scottish FA commitment to member clubs.
“As their comments note, it is their right to reallocate funding to the first team in what is their first season back in the Ladbrokes Premiership if they feel that is in the long-term interests of the club.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here