MY mates in the mainstream media (MSM) have been getting excited this past week about young Ryan Gauld, following his £2 million move to Sporting Lisbon. A nice move for the boy, and a good bit of business for Dunde United, who, I hope, put a sell-on clause into the deal.
Mind you, this £48 million release clause worries me - that's a lot of potential pressure to put on an as yet unproven kid's shoulders. Now, fromback in the day when Jim McLean would occasionally smile, when hair was long, trousers wide and moustaches seemingly de rigour in football, Dundee United has been producing promising young players.
I can think back to big Andy Gray, Raymond Stewart, Duncan Ferguson, Christian Dailly and..... Well given even Duncan Disorderly and the Tartan Army's best-loved analyst of GErman tactics have been retired for a year or two now, the supply has dried-up. Sure, there have been big-money moves, but, no Tannadice discovery has, n the past 15-years, come close to matching the exploits of the four I have named.
Take David Goodwillie, for instance. Not so long ago, he was: the next big thing; he secured a big-money move to Blackburn Rovers and was fast-tracked into the Scotland team.
He has just joined the long list of exports to England who couldn't cut the mustard there and has just signed a one-year deal with Aberdeen. He hasn't featured in the Scotland squad for some time. He may, of course, back among his ain folk, rediscover his goal touch, which will be great for the Dons. He could get back into the national team, but, this will take a degree of application which has not always been obvious.
Of course, Scottish clubs have always sold-on their discoveries to the English game. The transfer trail south has been operating for over 140-years, albeit, in recent years, the trail has become a bit clogged by weeds.
I think the problem has been the ridiculous imbalance between the wealth of the football market in England and here. English football was always bigger and wealthier than the Scottish game, but, for many years the English maximum wage kept a lot of native talent here. The Old Firm, for instance, could offer wages which the English clubs could not match.
No more, even middle of the road Championship or League One clubs in England can now afford to pay wages which even the Old Firm will struggle to match. Football is a short career, players have to make money while they can, so, it makes sense for kids in Scotland, who have created a profile for themselves, to cash-in early, by joining a second or third level English club.
If you can double or better your salary and, perhaps make a name for yourself which will get you noticed in the Premiership, its a winning situation. Scottish clubs might try to persuade you to stay at home, learn your trade, get a cap and develop, but, when it comes to jam today, against jam tomorrow - well, today will usually win.
Still, Gauld's move shows, we can still produce promising players. However, for that promise to deliver, we need a change of attitude, not on the training pitches, but, in the boardrooms. The directors of Scotland's clubs, should, must, insist that their coaches work harder, the players harder still. Let's re-discover the old Scottish Presbyterian work ethic, and get Scottish football and players back to the top.
I wish Ryan Gauld well - I hope he makes it big in Portugal; but, I hope even more-fervently, that he is not the last young Scot to be picked up by a leading European club. However, I hae ma doots.
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