All Change
All Change
Ever since the Bosman case tore the transfer system apart there have been prophets of doom warning us about the influx of foreigners into the Scottish game, and as this season gets started these people have more ammunition in their belts than ever before. With Dundee and Airdrie discarding home grown players for foreign imports by the busload there must be record numbers of out of work Scottish footballers heading for their local job centre.
This begs the question, why? Freeing the entire Airdrie squad is perfectly understandable, considering how much they've slipped from their already low standing in Scottish football it must have been a cause for celebration in their rat infested district. Dundee on the other hand have just come of the back of two relatively successful if unspectacular seasons, rather than try and build on their success they proceeded to trim their squad with the subtlety of the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan. In doing so they have sold a record number of season tickets (so they claim) and for the first time in living memory brought more than the usual half full minibus of supporters through to Fir Park, from where I sat it looked a pretty healthy travelling support.
Could you imagine there being a similar level of excitement if they had signed half a dozen Scottish players instead of Spaniards and Italians, not likely, one of the most appealing aspects of signing a foreign player is that its like playing the lottery. You never know if you going to hit the jackpot and get a Luc Nijholt or waste your money again and get lumbered with a useless ticket like Bob Maaskant. Foreigners who sign for the likes of Motherwell and Dundee generally haven't been showing off their skills at the latest World Cup or Euro Championship so while they may be as many foreign duds out there as in Scotland the fact that they are unknown just makes signing one that bit more interesting than someone from within Scottish football. Take the signing of Shaun McSkimming, something Motherwell and Dundee fans have both experienced, doesn't exactly quicken the pulse does it, compared to the latest Dutch import, where optimistic logic dictates that "he's Dutch", a nation renowned for silky footballers, so he "can't be worse than mince like Jamie Dolan."
Hopefully this isn't the logic managers are using when signing foreigners but you never know, I suspect they are looking for a players with superior technical ability to the average Scottish journeyman player, but why have Scottish clubs started fitting revolving doors at their main entrances in the hope that the odd gem will walk in. Dundee Utd have used in the region of over 90 players in Sturrocks time, Hibs had over 50 professionals in their squad when they were relegated a year or two back. The smell of desperation can be found around most SPL managers in their quest to find decent talent. The problem is there don't seem to be many players born in Scotland with the ability to excite the fans and make opposition managers green with envy. I suppose the last great Scottish talent was Davie Cooper, six years on since he last turned out for the Well I'm even more grateful than ever that I got to see a player of his calibre in the flesh.
There is always promising new talent coming through every season but for reasons unknown to me they have all failed to live up to promise in recent times. Off the top of my head I'll list players who haven't set the world on fire as anticipated. Kevin Harper, Steve Crawford, Duncan Ferguson, Phil O'Donnell, Charlie Miller, Eion Jess, Scott Booth, Paddy Connolly, Ray McKinnon, Robbie Winters, Gary Smith, Stephen Wright, Simon Donnelly, Gary Locke, Stephen Glass, Craig Nelson, John O'Neil, Andy Mclaren. They are all players who showed promise as youngsters but not one of them has fulfilled it. In the last ten years all of these players have been hyped as Scottish stars of the future, some have been hindered by injury, others by their own ability to shoot themselves in the foot and the rest just haven't lived up to over optimistic claims of their ability. Most of these players are still making a good living out of the game, some such as that bampot Ferguson an exceptionally good one, maybe that is part of the problem, why strive that bit more when your making a fortune anyway.
When it comes down to it we just aren't producing good enough players in enough numbers, it's reflected in the mediocrity of our league and in the stodginess of even our best players at International level. We have just been through a decade of further decline and a few proposals of Youth Academies aside not much of notice has been done. Hopefully ten years from now these proposed Academies are churning out silky Scottish players like a production line and all these concerns seem like a century ago, but in the meantime I'm away to try and crossbreed my budgie with a pig.
Malcolm Boyd
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