With Kenny McLean making his full debut for Scotland last week, Aberdeen FC had representatives in every Scottish International squad from U16 level all the way up to the first team.

With the U16s were Lewis Hutchison and Joe MacPherson, Connor McLennan is with the U17s at the moment, the U19s called up Frank Ross, Daniel Harvie and Scott Wright for their tournament in Croatia and Craig Storie yesterday made his debut for the U21s 3-1 over Northern Ireland in Paisley.

Off the back of such international success, we spoke Head of Youth Academy, Neil Simpson.

“For our Youth Academy and for the players who are getting that experience, International football is brilliant.

“When I was playing, I found the experience of playing international football was so important for my development. It gave you an opportunity to play against different styles of play, different players, different tactics and different conditions. I always felt it stood me in good stead. By the time I went and played in the Aberdeen first team, I felt I had a bit of experience behind me from playing in the International games, and that was even more important when we got into the European games.

“Even at the lower age groups, we have had the likes of Dean Campbell, Ethan Ross and Tyler Chicken involved at Scotland U15 level this season. As well as the lads who have been away with Scotland, Terry Taylor recently captained the Wales U15s, so it is great for the Youth Academy that we are producing players of that level. Terry has also played for Scotland, so in the years ahead there will have to be a decision made at some point!

“At U16 level, Lewis Hutchison and Joe MacPherson were in Serbia for a development tournament, which Scotland won. Lewis is a striker who came into the system at U14 level from Albion Boys Club. Within a few months, he had established himself in our U15s and then all of sudden he was away at the national trials and got picked for the Scotland U15s before being selected for the U16s.

“Joe MacPherson actually came from the Paul Lawrie Foundation. He is an excellent defender, predominantly playing at rightback but who can also play in central defence. He’s really aggressive and reads the game well. Joe has played a number of games at U20 level.

“I must also mention Seb Ross. He has been in previous Scotland squads but did not make this one. But all credit to him, in the last four games for the U17s he has been outstanding. He did not let the disappointment affect him which shows he has the right mentality. He is a player we have high hopes for.

“Connor McLennan is another player who has real potential. He was away with the Scotland U17s in Denmark. Unfortunately Connor had a lot of injuries during the first half of the season which was hard as he would have been eager to get involved with his new team mates in the U20 dressing room.

“He has actually never played for our U17s, he went straight to the U20s, but that is how we work it in the Youth Academy. If there is a player doing really well, we push him up an age group. We believe that is the best way for them to develop instead of keeping boys at one age. We don’t believe in having a strong team that can get results, that is secondary for us. If they are doing well, we push them on. It is an approach which has worked fantastically well for us this year.

“At U19 level we were represented by Frank Ross, Scott Wright and Daniel Harvie. A lot of pride was felt by everyone when Daniel made his first team debut against Partick Thistle recently. The manager was not just throwing on a player for the sake of it, the game was in the balance. Derek McInnes has been really good in terms of helping to develop our young players and offering support to the Youth Academy.

“For all the staff in the Youth Academy, seeing a player we have worked with from a very young age making it all the way to the first team, there is no better feeling.

“In any Youth Academy there has to be a route all the way to the first team, a pathway starting from seven or eight years of age. We have evidence that that is definitely the case at Aberdeen Football Club.

“To help the pathway, we have U17 coach Scott Anderson who helps Paul Sheerin with the U20s and in turn, Paul is involved with the first team. It is a smooth pathway that helps players move seamlessly to the next level.

“There have been a lot of good initiatives we have started recently. We have a full time sports scientist and that really has added to the players’ physicality and athletic capability. We also have a full time video analyst. We are doing a lot of video work with the U17s and that is important.

“Everything is about little percentages which make the players the very best they can be.

“The Statoil deal has allowed us to do these additional things. It has allowed us to take everything to a new level. We have to thank Statoil very much for their support. Their funding has also allowed us to take some of the teams abroad.

“Our U10s were in Holland last weekend, at a tournament with a lot of big Champions League teams. Our U12s are going to the Netherlands in May, our U14s are going to Belgium and at the start of next season, our U16 team are going to Denmark.

“That is a big aim of our Youth Academy now, for all our teams to get an international trip, from the U10s all the way up to the U17s. We want to challenge the boys at European level. You see the boys’ character when they are away. You can see who can handle it and we learn a lot more about them as players and as people. We want to measure our boys against the top European teams.

“It has been another very positive season. Having so many internationalists is great. To a certain degree, it allows us to measure our Youth Academy against others. Ultimately, we are judged on how many players we get into the first team. That is what we do so well, we don’t focus on the team, we focus on the individual. We push them on to the next age group to challenge them.”