Manchester United boss Ferguson, who managed his country at the 1986 World Cup, believes more than three or four "very good" players are needed to reach Euro 2012.

"In the present Scottish squad, I think you've got three or four very good players," said Ferguson, who singled out his own midfielder Darren Fletcher as Scotland's best footballer.

"But to qualify for the championship, you need more than that."

Ferguson's view would seem to be supported by new national team boss Craig Levein, who is setting up a database to unearth new players eligible to represent Scotland either through bloodline or the recently-introduced school rule.

As well as finding better talent, Ferguson believes Levein must rebuild the confidence of a side who failed to reach this summer's World Cup.

"They were very unfortunate last time; they got very close," he said. "There's not a great deal wrong.

"What you need as a country - and I hope that happens - is the confidence of winning."

Speaking in Glasgow at his old school, Govan High, Ferguson insisted the raw talent existed in Scotland for the country to be successful.

But he feels Britain needs to do more to encourage youngsters to play football and develop their skills.

"It's the same problem in England right now," he said. "There's concern about the quality of players coming through. The more you practise, the better you're going to become.

"Anyone can play in a game of football. Guys with big beer bellies play every Sunday.

"But that doesn't make them a footballer. Practise can make you a footballer.

"In golf for instance, Gary Player used to practise two or three hours a day getting out of a bunker.

"Somebody asked him, 'Why do you do that?' He said, 'I may have to hole from a bunker to win a tournament'."

Of the current sedentary lifestyles of many youngsters, he added: "It's certainly a culture that's developed in the last 25 years.

"Television was the first source, I would imagine. You wake up at 4am, 5am, and you've got children's programmes on - on three or four channels.

"That culture has integrated into kids as they grow up. But I think, if given the opportunity, they'd rather be out playing football or another sport."

Ferguson also claimed he would have no hesitation signing more Scots if they were good enough.

"A boy with talent will be recognised, no doubt about that," he said. "Although we've not had a boy from Govan High, we've had boys from Scotland.

"At this moment, we've got Darren Fletcher, we've got a young boy David Gray. We've got a young boy down at the moment who's only 13.

He added: "The difficulty in bringing players from Scotland to England is that we've got to wait until they leave school.

"That's the advantage the likes of Rangers and Celtic and Aberdeen have got, in terms of getting to boys before English clubs can get to them."