Mark Wotte claimed he had achieved everything the Scottish Football Association had asked of him as his surprise departure from the Hampden offices was announced.

The former Saints boss, who took up the reins after Jan Poortvliet's departure in January 2009, has stepped down after three years as the SFA's first performance director.

Wotte was installed to oversee the governing body's performance strategy, which was designed to improve the development of elite players.

The SFA's vision was that, by 2020, most of the Scotland team would have come through their performance programme, but Wotte will be long gone before the success can be judged.

Wotte said in a statement: ''I am proud to have been the Scottish FA's first performance director leading this nationwide project and I leave safe in the knowledge that this great football nation is on the rise again.''

Wotte oversaw the establishment of seven regional performance schools, which allow children to combine their studies with daily football training and coaching from the age of 12. A national performance centre, for all sports, will open at Heriot Watt University in 2016.

The 53-year-old said: ''With the performance schools now into their third year, the successes in qualification for finals by our national youth teams, and of course the great work by Gordon Strachan and Anna Signeul in the men's and women's A squads, I am confident that Scottish football is on the path to success again.

''I have absolutely loved my time in Scotland and have been grateful for the excellent support of my coaching team, performance department staff and, of course, the member clubs.

''However, my job was to implement the strategy to move Scottish football forward: clearly the structure is now fully in place and Scottish football will continue to see the benefits in coming years.

''I feel I have completed the tasks I was set and I am delighted with the swift progress but I am really looking forward to a new challenge.''

SFA chief executive Stewart Regan hailed Wotte's arrival in June 2011 as the ''key appointment that could turn around Scottish football''.

The association listed some of the successes Wotte had ''overseen'', including the under-17s reaching the European Championship semi-finals and the under-16s winning the Sky Sports Victory Shield.

The statement also said he was ''integral to the creation of the SPFL Under-20 league'', which was this year changed to a development league, and the ''restructuring of Club Academy Scotland''. The latter project puts professional clubs at the forefront of youth development, amid guidelines and financial support from the SFA, rather than boys' clubs.

Wotte was never afraid to speak his mind, once bemoaning the fact that too many 16 and 17-year-olds drop out of the Scottish game ''because they are away on the Buckfast and see things they think are better than football''.

He was also branded ''insecure and paranoid'' by Neil Lennon after a public disagreement with the then Celtic manager over the subject of youth football.

His legacy will not be apparent for some time, but Regan believes he has made a good start to the process of improving Scottish football.

Regan added: ''On behalf of the board and staff at the Scottish FA I would like to thank Mark for taking the performance strategy from an ambitious goal in the early days of our strategic plan, Scotland United: A 2020 Vision, to an exciting reality.

''In just over three years, we have already seen signs of great progress and I would reiterate my thanks to Mark for providing such a solid foundation on which to build future success for Scottish football.''