Reid wants immigration rules change

OUTGOING Celtic chairman John Reid has called for changes to the immigration system to make it easier for Scottish clubs to recruit talented teenagers from anywhere on the globe. Reid, whose chairing of the club’s AGM on Friday was his last act in his position before being replaced by Ian Bankier, believes Celtic are disadvantaged against similarly-sized clubs in Portugal, Belgium and Holland because British football authorities are being too protective of home-grown players.

Reid’s assertion may seem strange coming from a man who, as home secretary in 2006, said he “favoured tighter immigration controls”.

Now, the Labour peer seems willing to make an exception for football. “We have an immigration policy that is meant to protect homegrown players but disadvantages smaller clubs,” he says. “If you’re in the likes of Portugal, you can go anywhere outside of Europe and bring in someone for £50,000 at 16 to 20 years of age. If you’re in Belgium you can do it from the Congo. If you’re in Holland you can do it from the Dutch East Indies. You can’t do that here, unless they’ve played half of the recent games for their country, which in turn inflates their price.

“So these small countries have an advantage over us because their clubs have a world market to buy players. That brings better value but also allows for trading income which we don’t get in this country. We’re at a disadvantage, first of all, to the big clubs in the big nations but also to the big clubs – like Benfica in Portugal – in small nations.”

Reid said the problem was immigration, a reserved matter of the Home Office he once fronted. “If we went to Nigeria for example, a Commonwealth country, and found a great prospect, he’s not going to get in because he hasn’t played for his country. The minute he has we can’t afford him. It’s not European law. It’s British immigration law, which is based on an agreement between the football and player associations to protect homegrown players. It creates a problem, because if Belgium, Holland, Denmark and Luxembourg can do it, we’re not only disadvantaged against the big countries, but also the smaller ones.

“You wouldn’t have to convince the government. It’s whether the SFA, PFA and their English equivalents could be convinced. It is said this would adversely effect the production of players from academies but we’re all having to develop academies anyway because we can’t afford to sign players.”