The Departed: Can Scottish football cope with the exodus of its stars?

Published on Saturday 17 July 2010 16:22

EMMIGRATION of established talent from the Scottish Premier League these past 12 months is threatening to turn into an exodus. Kevin Thomson this week became yet one more of Middlesbrough's Old Firm enclave as Artur Boruc departed for Fiorentina.

Or, to put it another way, the desire to cash in on players entering the final year of their deals has deprived this country's top flight of a Rangers midfielder previously labelled a future captain of the Ibrox club as well as a Celtic goalkeeper regarded as the best in the position since the 1970s.

Middlesbrough can now boast Celtic club captain Stephen McManus, who followed Thomson this week; Rangers' best goalscorer in a decade - Kris Boyd; Celtic's most accomplished goal plunderer since Henrik Larsson in the shape od Scott McDonald and Aberdeen's forward pivot Lee Miller, who made an unsuccesful switch to the Riverside in January. As yet none of the three has been permanently replaced.

Captains across Scotland, indeed, have been picked off in the post-Setanta austerity age, and vacated these borders. Pittodrie's armband wearer Mark Kerr has gone Greek with Asteras Tripolis, Hearts skipper Michael Stewart - albeit after he was freed - has taken to Turkey with Genlerbirligi SK, and all this after Rangers captain Barry Ferguson re-invented himself at Birmingham City after moving there a year ago.

And so it goes on with all forms of SPL footballer. One of the league's stand-outs last season, Jim O'Brien, has trodden a well-worn path in disappearing from Motherwell at the completion of his contract to move to the English Championship, in this case Barnsley. St Mirren's main goal sources, Billy Memhet and Andy Dorman, meanwhile, hopped off for Turkey and England respectively. The latter took the English third-tier route out of Scotland's upper echelon in signing for George Burley's Crystal Palace. Simon Ford went the same way in swapping Kilmarnock for Chesterfield.

All these moves are likely to be topped off with the sale of Scotland's most marketable performer, Aiden McGeady. According to his manager, Neil Lennon, the Celtic winger has given the "vibes" that he see his development best served by a move to the English Premier League.

A taker should be found for an 8-million-with-add-ons fee that Celtic could live with because they need the money to finance Lennon's extensive remaking of his squad.That will involve considerable sums, ultimately, and Celtic stand alone in Scotland as significant re-investors when it comes to operating in the transfer market. When you consider that Pedro Mendes, Nacho Novo, Barry Robson and Gary Caldwell, to name but a few, have all shot the craw in the past year, though, Scotland has lost a huge number of its "names"; or at least players, mostly internationalists, who were considered assets to their clubs and the game's profile. The gaps that are being left across Scotland by such moves cannot be filled in the short-term. That is blindingly obvious, says Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee, who is also looking to replace Gary McDonald and Charlie Mulgrew. Novelly, Mulgrew moved between Scottish clubs to join Celtic, as did Kevin Kyle in joining Hearts from Kilmarnock. There is not much internal player-trading, or circulation, as it were, though. Perhaps because Scottish football isn't breathing easily.

"We have to be careful not to become too bogged down in the negatives," McGhee says. "We have to find some way out of this, find a way forward. That has to be in the form of young players and that means more opportunities for (young players] such as Fraser Fyvie, Peter Pawlett and David Goodwillie. Some of these lads have even had exposure to European football when aged 17 or 18 and in the long term, that has to benefit the Scottish game.

"That might not help me, Jim Jefferies, or whoever, in the here and now, when life is made difficult by the need to finish third with players still learning their jobs. There is no point bleating on about it. Whatever (money] you have to spend might not get you headline names, but you can still pick up players who have learned their roles across 200 games or whatever.

"You need those players to fill the gap created by guys who have left in that bracket. What it would be wrong to do is say that Fyvie, for instance, at still only 17, can stand up the whole season for a team like Aberdeen. Most of the young players in Scotland have a fair way to go before they could be considered the real deal.

"The vast majority won't turn out to be the players we would like to think they will. But with so many having opportunities, even a small percentage making the grade can start to nudge up standards. That has to be our hope and as a football manager you must always carry hope and enthusiasm into every season, regardless of how awkward the situation you are in might appear."

McGhee points out that Scottish club losing players to the Championship, in particular, is hardly a new phenomenon. It happened to him two summers ago at Motherwell. Just as with Everton loanees John Ruddy and Lukas Jutkiewicz as well as Giles Coke and O'Brien departing this time around, he found himself with considerable gaps to fill after Ross McCormack, Stephen Hughes and Chris Porter headed south for greater riches.The drain and subsequent diminishment of the Scottish game seems more pronounced now, but McGhee believes that movement in the opposite direction could be a possibility in the near future.

"There are now Championship clubs who are finding that they have to introduce cuts and pare back squads from 26 to 22 or 20, or whatever," the Aberdeen manager says. "So experienced players who thought they had one more year, or the likelihood of another contract, are finding they these options are not open to them. These sorts could be available to clubs in Scotland."

What has distressed McGhee as much as the dilution of strength in Scottish football is the fact that supporters know precisely the predicament for their clubs, but cut them no slack when it comes the product they see on the park. "If teams don't play well, players and managers deserve to be criticised," he says. "But if a factor in that is the need to field young players because the Championship has skimmed your best players, there might be some account of that in the reaction to performances."

Neil Murray, an agent with Proactive Sports Management, sees certain avenues closing down for Scotish players in the Championship. But as the man who brokered Kerr's move to Greece, he sees other ones opening up. "The finances in the Scottish game means there could be more deals abroad for good players in the 27-to-28 age bracket who have played for many seasons up here and achieved all they want to achieve here," says Murray, who won the Swiss title with Sion and had spells in France and Germany.

"They will be able to triple, quadruple or achieve an even great hike in their wage packet and will continue to be lost to the Scottish game.

"The promising young guys, meanwhile, will always be attractive to the Championship because it costs these teams nothing for their scouts to come and watch them and it then costs them nothing to sign them up at the end of their contracts. In a way, Scotland's become a good market for agents again because of the value players here can represent to the Championship."

It would have been of harm only to the SPL that Graeme Dorrans and Charlie Adams proved so instrumental to West Brom and Blackpool, respectively, earning their English Premier League pots of gold. It has upped the standing of Scottish players in England's second tier, which will further rise if Strachan's tartan plan for restoring Middlesbrough's top-flight status pays off. Murray maintains that money talking shouldn't be bad news for all SPL clubs.

"Hearts can pay so much more than any teams outside of the Old Firm, they should be able to attract a considerably better player than the rest. Rangers, Celtic and Hearts are the only teams in Scotland that can pay Championship wages.Hearts have an advantage over the rest that they should be able translate into league position, especially this season."

It didn't last campaign, and Murray believes that fact is reason enough for being optimistic the SPL won't turn into a wasteland for as long as clubs here "do not meet the salary expectations of players". Which is forever. "Look at what Hamilton and St Johnstone have been able to do on very limited budgets. It hasn't seemed to be major traumas for these teams when they have lost major players. They mix it between playing the market and having young players to step in. They seem to have been able to show a bit of foresight in how they manage their squads and that is paying off for them. It can be done."

WHERE THEY WENT:

JOHN RUDDY

The Motherwell keeper, who famously kept Hibs down to just six goals late last season, has joined Norwich City.

MICHAEL STEWART

The spot kick and getting-sent-off specialist was freed by Hearts in May to join Turkish side Genlerbirligi SK.

KRIS BOYD

Rangers' goal machine left at the end of his contract, signing a two-year deal with Gordon Strachan's Premiership-aspiring Middlesbrough.

JAMES McARTHUR

Leeds United and Wigan are battling to prise the midfielder from Hamilton, with United tabling a 750,000 bid

KEVIN THOMSON

Rangers consoled themselves with a handy 2m as the midfielder joined Strachan's Teesside tartan army

MARK KERR

Pittodrie skipper left for warmer climes of Greece to join Asteras Tripolis.

ARTUR BORUC

Publicity-shy shrinking violet - and Celtic's best keeper since the 1970s - is off to Fiorentina for 1.7m.