David Taylor has ended his spell as Scottish Football Association chief executive by warning of a £500m funding gap in developing the game in Scotland.
As he started his job as Uefa general secretary, Taylor has urged the Scottish Executive to help out.
"You don't have to walk far to see poor facilities and the government should be doing something about it," said Taylor.
"We need 1500 upgraded pitches across Scotland. This would bring up to speed with Holland and Norway."
Taylor believes that the SFA needs help from First Minister Jack McConnell.
"I've always believed the SFA should not just be about the national team and the Scottish Cup," he said.
"Norway and Sweden put down 50 new artificial pitches a year""It has a duty to promote the game and we have to do that at all levels - from school kids to girls' football and beyond.
"But we can't do it on our own. We need help. I spoke to Jack McConnell last week and we keep banging the drum.
"We can't leave it to all the clubs.
"We want kids to have good pitches to play on to help their development.
"Norway and Sweden put down 50 new artificial pitches a year and they cost £300,000 each.
"We reckon it will cost £500m to fix.
"If, over a 10-year period, we can get about 20% of that, those are the kind of numbers we are looking at to fix the problem in Scotland. That's the standard we want."
Meanwhile, the Sunday Herald newspaper has claimed that McConnell will invest £100m in football facilities should Labour win the Scottish Parliamentary elections on 3 May.