SPL preview: Kilmarnock

Photography’s his hobby but Jeroen Tesselaar is fully focused on his football, writes Andrew Smith.

JEROEN Tesselaar has always been able to see the bigger picture. The Dutch full-back
 with the passion for photography saw a snapshot of the sort of football he admired every time he played for St Mirren against Kilmarnock last season. And that was why he put himself in the frame for seeing the game through Kenny Shiels’ lens by swapping St Mirren Park for Rugby Park during the summer.

“At St Mirren we tried to play the football that supporters want to see and when we played Kilmarnock it was a game between two teams wanting to do the same,” says the 23-year-old. “I knew they played a game that would suit me, they needed a left back [after Ben Gordon’s move ended] so my move suited us both.”

Tesselaar only signed a year’s deal with St Mirren because he worried that he would want to go home at the end of a season of what he thought would be long ball, kick-lumps-out-of-each-other bloodsports. Now, he has signed a two-year deal with the Ayrshire club because he knows he will have opportunities to bomb forward and prove an attacking weapon, as he did with a fine cross for Lee Johnson to score in the 1-1 draw with Huddersfield the other night. “They play lots almost with wing-backs, but I think it is better for me to say I am a defender who likes to overlap.”

St Mirren, both the club and support, were hurt when Tesselaar decided not to extend his stay in Paisley, captain Jim Goodwin pleading with him and Nigel Hasselbaink to accept offers they were made by the club. “I think I can speak for both of us and say we had very good times at St Mirren but sometimes you have to move to make a step forward. I think I’ve done that,” said Tesselaar.

The Dutchman might want to ignore the sentiments expressed by Shiels last week in that case. The loss of major players – Dean Shiels, Mahamadou Sissoko and Ben Gordon chief among them – has the Kilmarnock manager believing that, after guiding his side to a League Cup triumph and seventh place in the SPL last season, they will do well to finish better than tenth – two places below where St Mirren ended up in May.

“I think we have a big opportunity to make the top six and if we do that getting one of the places to qualify for Europe could open up for us,” said Tesselaar.

“I’m sure that can be an ambition for the club just as it is a personal ambition.”

And the player has proved receptive to the intensity of Shiels in pursuing his driving ambition of seeing football played a certain way. “You know what he wants,” said the Dutchman. “He puts that over very clearly. He tells you what you need to do from the first kick – and that isn’t to just kick it right up the pitch.”

Already, Tesselaar feels settled among the “funny guys” of the Rugby Park squad. He drives to training with Gary Harkins, Michael Nelson and Danny Racchi, and afterwards they bond by sharing leisure activities. There are some, eh, interesting faces among the Kilmarnock squad that could make them perfect subjects for the Dutchman’s off-field passion. Even if he refuses to consider adding a sepia blue tint to his preferred way of shooting.

“I didn’t do as much photography last year as I had when playing in Holland,” says the former AZ Alkmaar and Telstar defender. “But I intend to pick it back up again now. I’ll stick to black and white photos, though.”

And under Shiels, following a football approach that is also admirably black and white.