£40m PRICE TAG WON’T BE A BURDEN IN CAIRNEY’S CAP CHASE
BY Tom Cairney’s own admission, Fulham’s £40million valuation of his talent is ‘crazy’. He is right, of course, but it is also a plain fact that few other Scottish players could even come close to commanding the £18m figure that West Ham were prepared to pay for his services during January’s transfer window.
Not only is the 27-year-old Fulham’s captain, he is also the beating heart of Slavisa Jokanovic’s team, who are firmly in the mix as the English Championship promotion race nears its crucial end-game.
It’s perhaps no coincidence that Alex McLeish was at Craven Cottage last weekend. Barely 24 hours after his appointment as the new Scotland national coach, he embarked on a scouting mission to London where he watched Fulham defeat fellow promotion chasers Aston Villa.
The performance of Robert Snodgrass, in excellent form since moving to Villa on loan from West Ham at the start of the campaign, would have been of interest to him, but Cairney’s string-pulling display in the middle of the park would have caught his eye.
He produced another fine display yesterday as Fulham beat league leaders Wolves 2-0.
Cairney has one cap for Scotland, earned in a friendly against Canada a year ago, but he remains determined to forge a meaningful international career.
‘I’m very keen to be involved and maybe the change of manager and a fresh campaign might bring some new ideas,’ said Cairney.
‘I don’t know Alex McLeish. I’ve never met him, but I do remember his Birmingham City team beating Arsenal in the League Cup final (in 2011).
‘He is clearly a very good manager, who has done it at a very high level and hopefully having Peter Grant here at Fulham, will help. He’s someone I can go to and I’d like to think he’ll be able to push my case.
‘I don’t think there’s too much wrong with the (Scotland) team, it’s moving in the right direction. I guess the key thing will be to get the spirit right at the very start of the campaign and, hopefully, everything will kick on from there.’
Cairney (right), whose father hails from Uddingston, started his career with Hull and won six Under-21 caps before his transfer to Blackburn in 2013.
A £2.8m move to Fulham followed two years later and he was in Scotland’s squad as Gordon Strachan searched for a winning formula on the back of a slow start to the World Cup qualifiers.
He made the bench for the 1-0 home victory over Slovenia that reignited qualification hopes and was also in the squad for the 2-2 draw with England at Hampden last June. He did not get on but regards that day as a career highlight.
‘The way that campaign ended was frustrating but the team got really strong over the course of my time involved,’ said Cairney.
‘It was special to be involved for the England game at Hampden. As an occasion, I’d never experienced anything like it.
‘The atmosphere and the noise when each of Leigh Griffiths’ free-kicks hit the net was like nothing else. It was impossible to control yourself.
‘I had no issue with not being involved more. It all comes down to the manager — he’s paid to get results and, right until the end, he was doing it.
‘I didn’t expect to play and I was glad to be part of the squad. But I hope now I will have a chance to stake my claim. I want to be involved and I want to play.’
McLeish’s first games in charge will be next month’s friendlies against Costa Rica and Hungary. And then comes the end-of-season jaunt to South America to play Peru in Lima from where the squad will fly to Mexico City for their second game.
The trip has attracted criticism and it is expected that few if any of Celtic’s contingent will be available. That would free up space and Cairney would leap at the chance of a seat on the SFA flight.
‘I’d love to be involved. And if the Celtic players can’t make it to the end-of-season games, then — if selected — I would go. ‘My form has been good. I’ve had a niggly knee injury, tendonitis. That has been hard to shake off, but it’s still been a good season. Last term was an unbelievable year for me personally, but this time we’ve been very good as a team. ‘We’ve picked up something like 27 points out of 33, so we’ve hit really fine form and at a good time in the season.’ Last term, Fulham lost out to Reading in the play-offs and Cairney, who had scored 13 goals in an impressive campaign, was left exhausted and wondering what might have been. The fulcrum of a three-man midfield that features fellow Scotland cap Kevin McDonald and former Celtic player Stefan Johansen, Cairney seems destined for the top tier. David Moyes may have been rebuffed in the transfer window, but Cairney’s status may still upgrade if he continues to orchestrate the west London club’s timely bid for promotion. He added: ‘West Ham bid £18m, which I thought was a lot of money — but Fulham said they wanted £40m. That sounds crazy but I suppose it was their way of saying I was not for sale. ‘I have to take it as a compliment. There was an element of frustration because I want to be in the Premier League and these chances don’t come around too often.’
I hope now I will have a chance to stake my place. I want to be involved