Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Davidson reckons kids will get chance to shine when football restarts
THE coronavirus pandemic will be a career-ender for many senior pros across Scotland.
But the post-shutdown football world should be viewed as a career-starter for younger players looking for their big breakthrough, according to St Johnstone’s Murray Davidson.
Out of adversity came opportunity for the midfielder when Livingston were suffering financial troubles a decade-and-ahalf ago.
And the same will be true on an even broader scale in the SPFL over the next few months when the Premiership, and then the lower leagues, get back under way.
We will never know whether the likes of Davidson, Robert Snodgrass, Leigh Griffiths and Graham Dorrans would have become Scotland i nternationals with hundreds of top-level games under their belts if they had started out at a club without money worries.
But what we can say for c er t ai n is t hat Li v i ’s necessity to look at what they had i n their youth ranks certainly did not hurt them.
Davidson, who made 36 appearances for Livi between 2006 and 2009 before his move to Perth, can see parallels with what is about to become the norm across the board next season and perhaps beyond.
“This is the best time to be a young player i n Scottish football,” he said.
“Every single club will be going with a thinner squad so for lads who are 17, 18 or 19 this is going to be a great chance.
“It reminds me of coming through at Livi where we went from having a 20-man squad to hardly having any players, so that opened the door.
“That was the making of me and the likes of Dorrans, Griffiths and Snodgrass.”